Dust and Stars
by Frazi
Summary: A filthy human woman dares to lay claim to the snarly, foul-mouthed, human-hating God of Scorpio. She is the dust, he is the stars – together, they are the infinite.
1. Chapter 1

Dust and Stars

Summary: I did it again. Poetic license with Voltage's Star Crossed Myth. Scorpio haunted me until I wrote this down. So here we are.

A filthy human woman dares to lay claim to the snarly, foul-mouthed, human-hating God of Scorpio. She is the dust, he is the stars – together, they are the infinite.

* * *

1

My world is expansive. Open and limitless as the sky. It is the one reason I invested in the local planetarium. And as much as it is a business, I sometimes find myself on the roof staring up the stars. There is a certain calm that I feel. Almost as strongly as I feel how alone we are in the universe.

"Still staring up at the stars?"

My nose wrinkled and I turned away from the sparkling tableau to gaze at my managing partner. Cassidy was here because she liked the drama that came with running the planetarium. And the truth is, I know she's only waiting for me to offer her a better deal in one of my other companies. "Still looking down on people?"

She chuckled and stepped closer, holding the drink out to me, as if what I said, was a compliment. Of course it wouldn't look nice to the rest of the world if we were fighting. Partners. Friends. Nothing really. "Be nice Diana."

I accepted the flute of champagne. "You're smiling as if all of this was your doing."

"Sean was a scumbag. It was logical."

Yeah, logical. I took a deep breath and looked across the rooftop party to our guest of honor. My last partner had been a scumbag. We'd had to let him go when he harassed an employee. Cassidy had been next in line for a promotion. I'd known her since college. But she didn't really deserve it.

One of our employees, someone I had truly liked was leaving the planetarium. She said she was going to work elsewhere due to family reasons. Her friend had accidentally let slip that was probably moving away for a guy. I wished Storm Walker had stuck around. I didn't really want Cassidy heading the planetarium, but it was what it was.

I had only met her once or twice, but she was leaving now. Best I woman-up and wish her well. "Logical. But not very pleasant." I smiled unpleasantly at Cassidy. _I should be nice to her. I have to work with her._ But I took a sip of my drink and walked up to our guest of honor. "Congratulations Ms. Walker. I hear you're getting better prospects."

Blinking up at me in surprise, the tall blonde blushed. "Mish Gwey!" She mumbled and wiped her mouth with a napkin as she swallowed the cake she'd been eating. "Miss Grey," she tried again, "thank you so much for coming."

"I missed your last fundraiser; I couldn't miss this," I smiled at her friend. "Miss Fields. Hope you're feeling better."

Sara shook my hand. "Thank you for your support Miss Grey."

"I should have been more involved down here, maybe I would have seen what Sean was really like."

"It's okay Miss Grey, you didn't know."

"Please call me Diana." I nodded at Storm. "Leaving us for something better I hope." The lithe girl's smile was completely besotted. I couldn't help laugh. "I see. So it _is_ a man."

"Me? No! I didn't…"

Sara touched her friend's arm. "It's so damned obvious Stormy, just let it go."

With a wince, Storm clamped her mouth shut. I realize that perhaps I had put her on a spot. Touching her elbow I winked. "Relax Walker, a good man is always worth it. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. My prayers are with you." I left her blushing to mingle with the rest of our guests.

A good man. As if I knew what that was. In the long line of men who'd wanted to be prospects, I hadn't yet found a keeper. It was natural to be envious of anyone who did, but I tried not to be too bitchy about it. It was pointless. My lack of significant other was mostly a byproduct of how scary I was as a businesswomen and my ability to bore easily.

The night really was beautiful, I gazed up at the stars again. Maybe God had a plan for me. Oh but I wished he would clue me in soon or all my praying was for nothing.

The party was in full swing. Dancing, laughing, drinking and more. I took my purse and my keys and decided my shiny new Maserati would be easier to talk to. It was a new gift to myself and I did so love the engines under me. I wished my mother had let me become a racecar driver like I wanted. But alas. Putting my Maserati through its paces would have to do.

But before I could peel out of the parking lot and hit the streets, I saw Storm standing on the sidewalk, biting her lip. Those streets really were calling. Then I sighed. Perhaps it was fate the love-struck woman needed a ride from me. Maybe God really did have a sense of humor. With a sigh I pulled up beside her and rolled down the window. "Car trouble?"

She blinked and gave me a tremulous smile. "Ah…well. I don't have a car."

I grinned at her. "That's what I meant."

She looked up at the sky and for a moment I could have sworn she was trying to will something down with four wheels. When it didn't seem to work, she sighed and peeked back at me. "I have no idea why it's not working?"

"Praying?"

A flash of surprise went across her face before she chuckled and shook her head. "My cellphone." She lifted it up to show me the black screen. "I think I left something open in the background and it died before I could call a cab."

"Really? You're going to make me call you a cab now?" I raised an eyebrow at her. "True, I'm no handsome whoever you're running away with, but I do have the hot wheels to coax you into a ride."

Her smile was sheepish. "It's really out of the way."

"Honey," I popped the passenger side door open for her with a challenging smirk. "This is a Maserati. Nothing is out of the way."

"God you remind me of someone I know." There was a moment of hesitation before she got in. "What the hell. If you try and kidnap me I'll just karate chop you."

I put the car in gear and let her feel the first gear as I pulled into the nearly deserted streets of our city. "Karate chopped many?"

"Like I'd tell you." I cut a sharp turn and felt her buckle in. And it was gratifying to see her not grit her teeth or scream. She touched the GPS on the little screen on my dash and put in a location. I flashed her a raised eyebrow and she shrugged before snuggling down into my plush seats. "I told you. You're committed now."

Little did my show-off little ass know exactly how committed I'd become.

Storm was excessively easy to talk to. Soon enough, she knew what I was worth and how many notches were on my bedpost. It was mortifyingly fun. I didn't have a lot of women who were friends. Most of them were either jealous or judgy. Storm was neither. I wanted to keep her.

When we stood outside the mansion, I frowned up into the darkness. "Are you sure, you didn't just lure me to my doom?"

"It looks a little shabby, but it's fine." She opened the car door and I caught her wrist.

Struck by my sudden physical contact she yelped. "Easy Storm, I'm just wondering if you want to use my phone to call first. It doesn't look like anyone's in."

Relaxing at my concern she grinned. "Daddy probably forgot to turn the lawn lights on. Relax boss lady. I'm home."

There was something just not right about the place. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end as I opened the door and climbed out after her. It was just so wrong. Like the whole balance of things was off. Like the world had tilted off its axis. Like nothing belonged here.

She took a step towards the drive way and held up a hand. "Really, this is totally fine."

I put my thumb on the phone and unlocked it fluidly before holding it out for. "Indulge me. Call someone."

She swallowed and looked back at the house before muttering a curse under her breath and walking back to take it. She took her time dialing the number and I took in our surroundings. The big house was nestled between the thickest tress I'd ever seen and I couldn't hear anything. Not a cricket. Not the wind. Nothing. Gritting my teeth, I caught her sleeve. "Maybe we should call from the car."

"No it's…"

"I insist." Panic building like a wild thing inside me, I pulled her towards the car when, with a muted bang, blinding light exploded around us.

The last thing I remembered was that my gun was in the car, my hand was wrapped around Storm's and someone was grumbling about goldfish.

TO BE CONTINUED…


	2. Chapter 2

Dust and Stars

* * *

2

"Damn you Lion, you killed it."

"It is damned lucky I didn't with the way she wouldn't let of Storm."

"Aww you big softy, you were just jealous, weren't you?"

"Of a woman. It's idiotic."

"Shut up the both of you."

I groaned and the voices died as I felt something touch my head. As my consciousness returned, I realized it was my own hand. Then I discovered the rest of me. My arms, my neck, my torso and legs before I spiraled back to my head and groaned again. "Fucking hell, that hurt!"

There was a snort of laughter and my eyes snapped open sending a kaleidoscope of dancing lights all around me. Instinct made me rise, one arm swinging around to hit something solid and I took a hold of it in a vice as I hauled myself to my feet.

There was a hiss of pain as a serpent wound around my waist and I hooked my arm around the girth of a solid mass that became someone's shoulders. I stared up into what became a face, and met the glittering sapphire gaze of what became a man. And what a man. For a moment, self-preservation battled heating loins and then I realized my nails were digging painfully into the forearm of what looked like uniform and my knee was pressing threateningly against the crotch of said serpent.

Oh and it was spitting fire at me.

"Hello hotty."

Sooty black eyebrows snapped up in alarm at my husky whisper. I cursed my inability to control my mouth and there was a stream of guffaws and giggling in my periphery.

"Oh Scorpio, looks like you have an admirer."

"Oh my god, look at his FACE!"

"HAWWWHAWWWHAAAHAWWWW!"

Those fiery blue eyes tinted red as the arm unwound from where it had obviously caught me for balance and he grabbed both my wrists to extricate himself from my person. I will admit it shamelessly, I did not go easy. "Will you get your filthy human hands off me!"

I took a steadying step back once my brain came out of the fog of his proximity and slowly began to function on a normal level. And with it came the awareness that I was surrounded and had probably been drugged. Then came the name that had been niggling at my conscious mind. "Storm!?"

"Here!" I felt a hand on my shoulder and I spun around, grabbing it like a lifeline as the faces around me began to clear. "I'm okay! I'm okay!" There were three other men in the room. A tall auburn haired man nearly superglued to her back, a blond man with a playful smirk that hid a hint of disinterest and the wide-tooth grin of a man who knew he liked what he saw and wasn't afraid to ask for it.

I blinked at them before taking a quick tally of my new-found friend, who though seemed distraught, was otherwise unharmed. Then I took the liberty of sweeping my gaze back to the steely-eyed eye-candy behind me. And my heart and crotch gave another pulse. Fuck. "Holy shit, you're still gorgeous."

To make matters worse, his cheeks flamed a beautiful peach and I wanted to climb right back onto him. Who the hell was this guy?

"Hell with this, let's go Storm."

"What? No!"

I spun around as I felt Storm being bodily dragged away and I felt my blood catch fire. The auburn haired man with the slanting hair and whiskey-river eyes had pulled my friend only a few feet away before she broke free and caught my hand, the other bracing on my shoulder. "Are you crazy! She's lost and confused Leo. Do you really think I'm going to leave her here?"

"Then let me remove her memories and have her on way. You're late and I'm hungry." The one she called Leo reached out for her, but my arms wrapped around her before he could reach Storm and there-in began the tone of our future encounters. His eyes flickered with lightning. Or maybe the light was funny in the room full of gilded walls and golden furniture. Someone was really full of themselves. Leo's lip curled. "Or I could skin her and lay down a new rug for the fire."

"Is that supposed to scare me?" I scowled before meeting Storm's face. "Please tell me this isn't the dick you're doing."

There was a burst of laughter around me and Storm went completely red. Even Mr. Gorgeous Grouchy pants let out a snicker.

"Oh Leo, she is priceless! Can I keep her?"

"Shut up Taurus!" Leo snarled and for a moment I saw something else. A line of gold around him, a flicker of the red jewel at his throat as he thrummed with power. I watched him curiously for a moment then Storm was wrapped against him, her mouth at his jaw as she started whispering to him.

I saw it then.

The two of them. Like puzzle pieces they snapped into each other and everything around them stilled. Became in balance. Was completely at peace. Jealous fire snarled out of my chest but I bit it down and took a deep breath, running a hand through my raven hair. "Okay, there better be something stiff to drink in this over-dressed, garish house because otherwise, I really do know karate."

Still soothing her hungry beast, Storm shot me a sheepish grin. "You better sit down boss lady, this could take a while."

I slid back into the sofa I'd risen from, crossed my legs and languished there with every bit of sensual confidence I was famous for. And my eyes were on his sapphire-eyed sourly self as I grinned. "Bring it."

I'm a religious person. No matter my religion, I believe in God and his messengers and his ability to create and destroy. So when I let Storm shakily relay the story, I kept glancing at the faces as they came and went from the parlor. So they were earth-cast deities looking for repentance. Huh. Who'd have figured. Zodiac deities. The one she was screwing was Leo, the Lion. The pretty one with the sweet hungry eyes was Taurus and the smirking imp with the silent promises was Pisces. Wishes, punishments. Apparently, there had been a mass spanking in the heavens.

And the hotty – Scorpio. He'd camped out at the corner of the room where it was the hardest to see him, but I could feel his eyes on me. Oh they gave me goosebumps.

"So let me get this straight, you're a…"

"Fallen Goddess."

"Right," I nodded as Storm flinched at her own title. "If your boytoy hadn't just exploded into a ball of golden fire, I never would have believed you."

"Sorry about that, he's a little…er…possessive."

"That's putting it mildly." I sipped the really expensive scotch the Lion had handed me with a snarl. But he'd managed to be at least that civilized considering his woman seemed to like me. I almost wished I'd just peeled out of that garage.

I turned my head to meet those sapphire eyes only to be glared back.

Back to my glass, I smirked. Almost wished.

"You're not doing it right! Why the hell is she still awake, Aquarius?"

"I'm doing it right, she's not responding to the memory wipe Leo."

I glared at the sad looking man with the deep purple hair. "Stop prodding at my brain, I can feel you."

"This makes no sense! We've wiped enough humans before, why the hell isn't it working on her!"

I sighed and downed the rest of my drink. "Okay enough." Rising to my feet, I met Storm's eyes. "It's been fun. Thanks for the divine history lesson, but I really am done now. Let me out of this nut-house, I'm too tired to figure this out right now."

"Yeah," she rose with me. "You should get some rest. We can talk again to…"

"Out of the question."

That was the first time I'd heard him speak. But when I spoke of leaving, Scorpio finally came to stand in our circle. "She cannot be allowed to leave. She knows who and where we are. The last thing we need is more humans wandering into this."

I watched him for a moment, wondering how anyone so beautiful could be such an asshole. "You planning to keep me Scorpio?" When his eyes flickered to mine with surprise, I kicked myself. I really had to let up on the shameless flirting, it was totally making me look like a lecher.

"Hardly, you filthy mouthed human," he scowled, crossing his arms. "You simply cannot be allowed to tattletale to the world about us."

"She won't tell anyone," Storm pipped up. "I trust her. Her integrity is legendary in our office, okay?"

I could only look at him. "It's uncanny," I murmured.

"What is?" Seemed like Scorpio's normal was always a sourly scowl.

"Your appalling personality doesn't diminish your hotness in the least."

"Stop hitting on me dammit!"

I grinned when he took a step closer. "I can't help it, you're just so yummy."

"Is this idiot for real!"

Taurus snickered. "She really is precious. So very blind to your faults. You _should_ keep her Scorpio."

"For the last time, I do not _want_ to keep her!"

"Fascinating," I took a step closer and felt him tense. "You keep calling me these god-awful names and all I want to do is take you out of those ridiculously theatrical clothes."

For a moment, I watched his mouth open and close like a guppy, then he turned on his heel and stalked off in a flurry of colorful curses.

I sighed. "Damn but I need a filter for my mouth."

"Oh don't bother sweetheart, I love it." Pisces sidled up to me and purred in my ear.

"Yeah, no." I pushed him away gently and sighed. "It's specific, not philanthropic."

"Leo?" Storm seemed to be asking for a verdict on me. I had a feeling I could try to leave. It wouldn't be pretty. Not for anyone so I looked up at him as well.

His eyes cut into me like glass, but he nodded. "She can leave in the morning, but she stays the night. I'm going to get Libra. He'll figure out a way to allow her to go." Then the Lion's mouth widened into the vilest, most alluring smirk. "With a leash."

I flinched and rubbed my temple. Okay so he was a scary bastard. Dammit. "I run an empire that spans across the western seaboard. There is no way I'm staying here without a few essentials."

"Name them babe, we'll get um for you. Scented candles, sensual bathing gels. Maybe a plushy or two. Something with batteries?"

"Better." I smirked at Pisces. "Wi-fi and my laptop."

Taurus, placed a hand on his heart with a lamenting sigh. "Oh that is just painful. Especially with those legs."

I walked to the door as Storm wrapped herself around the Wild Lion of the Heavens. It was completely apparent how she could work him. I doused the familiar flare of envy I knew I'd be feeling around them and spoke nonchalantly over my shoulder. "So I'll be taking the room next to hotty with the bad temper; I do tend to sleep walk sometimes. Hope that's okay. Really? Thank you." I answered myself and crooked a finger at Taurus. "Show me the way Blondie."

That sweet grin was almost feral.

Maybe it would get better before it got worse.

Or so I thought.

TO BE CONTINUED…


	3. Chapter 3

Dust and Stars

* * *

3

Morning found me sooner than I would have liked. I had sent out a few emails and made a call to my assistant last night that I was stuck in the boonies. She said she'd handle the day. I didn't plan on being there the whole day; the sooner I got back to my life the easier it would be to forget the madness. But I will not lie. There was an odd sort of calm when I woke up the next morning. Outside the window all I could see were trees and hear the birds and the wind. Something that hadn't been there the night before.

Inside looking out was different I suppose. The darkness hadn't seemed real. Although anyone else could have said the morning was the illusion, but something prickled at the back of my neck. And I wanted to run.

Not knowing if deities needed R&R, I ventured back to my car, running a hand over the fender to make sure no one had touched it before I popped the trunk and grabbed my gym bag. Once I'd changed and slid the Bluetooth headphones on, the wind took me.

Eyes watched me from the mansion window but no one came in my way.

"How could you have lost her!?"

"I swear to you Leo, she rose before anything that resembled normal human hours." Taurus pouted, looking bedraggled and yawning.

"You were supposed to watch her!"

"And I did. She sleeps so soundly. I'm almost envious."

Storm winced and ran a hand through her hair where she sat. "Her car's in the driveway, she couldn't have gone far."

"That's because I have the keys to the monstrosity." Leo snarled from where he sat in his usual throne like chair.

The parlor doors opened as Libra entered and behind him came Scorpio. "Ease yourself Lion. Your guest is still here."

Taurus blinked in surprise. "Really? In the Mansion?"

"On the grounds," Scorpio clarified before walking to one of the large windows that overlooked the forest.

Everyone milled around it, even Leo ventured closer curiously. And there she was sprinting across the landscape.

"Damn," Taurus whistled. "She's fast."

Storm smiled. "I knew she wouldn't ditch if that's what she said."

"How well do you know her Storm Walker?"

Still a tad uncomfortable around Libra, she kept her eyes on her ex-boss. "Only by reputation and what I got to know yesterday. She's running a multi-million dollar business and I've only ever heard good things from the employees, except…"

"Except?" Libra raised an eyebrow when the goddess paused.

Storm winced as she spat the words out. "She's a bit of a Leo in our world."

The god in question smirked. "All magnificent, powerful and erotic?"

Storm's gaze was sardonic. "Yes with a dash of broken hearts and tears."

Scorpio scoffed and went back to the sofa and dropped into it unceremoniously. "I want her gone."

"Apparently, she's completely smitten with our scowling friend here." Libra looked confused so Taurus elaborated as Leo wrapped himself around Storm from behind and they murmured at the window. The other gods left them to sit.

"Shut up Taurus."

Libra grinned. "Interesting."

#####

"What's interesting?" A new voice pipped up and everyone saw her standing there at the door in all her splendor.

"Geez." Scorpio tried to disappear into the sofa.

The run had been rejuvenating. I usually capped it with a stiff cup of coffee and a sandwich, but there was no way I was going to hunt for a kitchen myself. So when I heard voices in the parlor, I stepped in to find everyone up and about, except for the man with the long pony tail. He was new.

I sighed inwardly. What was it with all these heavenly men anyway. This one was just as good-looking as the rest. All this lovely male flesh and not a woman in sight. Well, Storm was there, but she was completely taken by the Lion. He wouldn't stop touching her.

Then my eyes wandered to the grumpy one sunk into the couch. Oh be still my heart and panties.

It was almost as if he heard me, because he turned his head and started glaring.

Offering him a half smile, I walked into the parlor, pulling the headphones around my neck. "So what's interesting."

The new comer, albeit a little stiff, had the most intuitive violet eyes I'd ever seen. "You are Miss Diana Marie Grey. You have quite the life made out for you."

And that's when I decided he would be difficult to like. I frowned at him. "Checking up on me? I don't really appreciate being spied on."

"Did you really think we wouldn't?" Leo scoffed.

"Not when there's no need." I came and sat beside Scorpio in one liquid motion. He only stiffened, but got no time to move as I slid into the cushions and crossed my legs, my sneakered foot nearly touching his leg. "You could have just asked me."

"We needed to figure out what you were."

I spied a bowl of fruit on the coffee table and carefully reached across the vibrating, antsy man beside me. I didn't touch him. Not really, but I felt him draw a harsh breath as I picked up the apple. "Don't you mean who?" I cast him a furtive glance before taking pity on him and dropping back into my place.

A muscle worked in Scorpio's jaw but he stood his ground. Or sat. I smirked inwardly. _Score one for me_.

"No, we mean what." Libra's eyes were like laser scopes as he watched me and I couldn't help feel a little chastised for teasing his subordinate. They'd explained the whole department thing last night. "There should be a reason why you seem impervious to our powers."

At that I blinked and gave him my full attention. "Excuse me?"

"Apparently you're completely immune to their manipulations." Storm finally came out of Leo's arms and sat on the arm of the sofa beside me. She was sweet. It was meant to be rallying in my corner. I had never had someone do that for me. I was suddenly overcome with the need to hug her. Almost like a sister. How nice that would have been, especially with the childhood I'd had.

I took a bite of the apple and nearly swooned. With a moan, I looked up at Scorpio. "Please tell me that's not the apple of Eden or something and I'm going to turn into a toad."

"If only we were that lucky," his smile was wickedly hopeful and I wanted to reach out and kiss it right off. Damn but the fine lines of him made me hungry. And hot. Very hot, somewhere deep inside me I could not name. When he realized the direction my thoughts had taken, he scowled and went back to staring away from me.

"It's just fruit Miss Grey. No need to worry."

"Diana." I nodded at Libra and continued to devour the apple. "You can call me Diana. So tell me. What's the verdict. Am I free?"

"In a manner of speaking. I spoke to the Almighty and he's suspiciously tightlipped about your origin."

I stilled, swallowing my apple with difficulty. "The who?"

"The all-powerful, the most merciful, the…"

"Yeah, I get the picture." I leaned forward in my seat and met Libra's eyes carefully. "So he's…real."

The pony-tailed god frowned. "Of course he's real."

"And he looks like you guys?"

"Of all the…" Exasperated, Libra's eyes turned stony. "Of course not! And that's really not your concern human."

"Hey, I'm a praying sort of gal, I just want to know he's got my number."

"He's got everyone's number." Libra scoffed and turned to Leo. "Is she for real?"

The Lion dropped into his favorite chair and sighed. "Unfortunately. So let's be clear. One. She's an anomaly. Two. We can't let her go completely." He lifted a perfect, long finger with each point and I glared at him when he grinned at the last one. "And Three. I can't stand the sight of her. Get rid of her."

"I don't know what she sees in you."

"Let me light you up human and you can see."

"Leo, please. I swear it's like a mirror." Storm muttered before putting a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "Please Diana. You need to cooperate. We're really trying to find the best solution. There might be a bigger reason for your being here."

Tearing my eyes away from the Lion, I reigned in my fury to sit back into the sofa and much on my apple, almost brushing against the silent god beside me. He shifted an inch away anyway and I sighed. "Whatever. Fine. I do have a life to get back to. All those balls up in the air and all that."

"Oh we know!" Taurus purred from where he'd been silent until now.

A slow smile spread across my face when I realized what he was implying. I was starting to like him. "Found them all did you?"

"All sixty two of them."

I burst out laughing and had the decency to blush at the number. "Oh that's…hmmm. Guess I never counted."

The Scorpion beside me bristled. "Philandering, stupid..."

I slid him a sidelong glance. "You know everyone's got two right? But I like how you're over-estimating me."

His only answer was a warning snarl.

"Diana." Libra called my attention back to him and I reluctantly dragged my eye back to the God of Scales. His eyes were completely sobering and tinged with pity. "I'm afraid Storm is right. There's a deeper meaning to our meeting. And until He indulges us with an answer or we find out what that is, I'm afraid you'll have to be our guest."

My brow darkened with a frown. "I can't stay here. I have six companies and four charities across nine states. I have paychecks of nearly seventy thousand employees to approve of and two hundred people to hire before Christmas. I will not let them down. Do you really think I have time to sit here and twiddle my thumbs until you figure it out."

He raised an eyebrow. "Are you not at all curious about your destiny?"

I rose from my seat and held his gaze. "My destiny is connected to every household that depends on me getting out of bed and getting my shit together. It has found me wherever I have been these past three decades. I'm pretty sure it can find me at my apartment. Besides, He has my number remember? I'm in touch with him pretty often, thanks."

"Then one of us will accompany you."

I turned back to him from where I had almost walked away. "Excuse me?"

"There are a lot of forces up in the heaven Diana. Some who would seek to harness what you possess."

"What's that exactly?"

"The ability to shield yourself from our powers makes you unique. And your connection to the Almighty makes you valuable."

I felt the ground shift beneath me. "What do you mean my connection to Him?"

"Your unshakable belief in him is special." Libra grinned. "The way you speak with Him directly for your wishes is also special. Most wishes go through Leo and his department."

I stared at the Lion in horror almost afraid that he might have heard my most private wishes. But he merely watched me with a dissatisfied curl to his pretty mouth. I swallowed and met Libra's eyes. "Fine." Pursing my suddenly dry lips I nodded. "Put a guard on me, whatever. But I get to pick who."

"Let's hear it."

Scorpio went preternaturally still as I slowly met his eyes. "Him."

He was on his feet in a storm of fury. "No fucking way!"

My mouth widened into a smirk. "Step into my parlor."

Behind me Leo and Taurus burst out laughing as Storm put her head into her hands.

"I'm a Scorpion you filthy human. Not the fly to your web." He looked at Libra firmly. "No." When the god only sighed, his eyes widened. "NO!"

Perhaps it was fate.

TO BE CONTINUED…


	4. Chapter 4

Dust and Stars

* * *

4

"Mi Casa, e su casa."

The door to the guest room slammed shut and I sighed. Maybe Taurus would have been a better option.

Shaking my head, I headed for the shower that usually got me going in the morning. With Scorpio in the mix of things, life was about to get a whole lot complicated. I marveled at my ability to screw myself over for a pretty face.

With hot water running down my back I put my hands on the tiles and took a deep breath. What the hell had I gotten myself into? He wasn't my usual challenge. The one who wouldn't yield. What had possessed me to toy with him? Flirting with him back at the mansion was one thing. Having him in my periphery twenty-four seven was going to be torture. I thumped my head against the wall once or twice for good measure. I really was a sucker for gorgeous men.

Thirty one? I flinched and looked up at the ceiling. "Please God, I don't even know what to pray for? Forgiveness or gratitude." So I closed my eyes and let the water wash away all my sins and apprehensions. And as always, it really did feel like He was listening.

Freshly dressed and coiffed for office, I knocked on his door only to be greeted by something hitting it firmly from the inside. Sounded like a shoe. I sighed. "I'm sorry." It was such an awful thing to say for forcing him to do this. As much as he was divine to look at, I really needed to learn to treat my men with more dignity. "I know my mouth kind of got carried away from me, but you are pretty damned cute when you're riled up."

"SHUT UP!"

I rolled my eyes. "You forgot filthy human." Something smacked the door harder and I bit back a smile. "Look, we're going to have to learn to do this without me jumping your bones and you killing me. So can we please talk about this?" When there was no response, I pulled away from the door. "Fine. You take your time, I'm going to head into work for a bit. We can figure this out when I get home."

I hadn't completely turned away before the door was yanked open and the God of Scorpio stood there in all his scowling white and gold fury. He had indeed removed his boots and jacket and in the crisp gold lined shirt open at his throat, he was the mostly beautiful rumpled man I'd ever seen. Like he'd look if he came out of my sheets. Oh be still my fluttering heart. Among other things.

"I might hate your guts you conniving philandering human_"

"Philandering?" I muffled a snort of laughter. It would not look good.

"But you're out of your goddamn mind if you think I'm going to shirk the duties I have been assigned," Scorpio finished and took a step out. He bore down on me with his full girth. At least six feet, all raven hair, crushed sapphire eyes and finely sculpted mouth.

It was hard to look beyond the sexy fallen god bit and all the duties he could perform. But I bit my lip and tried to keep a straight face. "Oh. So?"

"So I'm coming with you, idiot. What the hell do you think I'm here for?"

Running a hand through the short fringe across my forehead, I took a deep breath. "Right. Well then, first thing's first. We need a fitting." I walked to the island counter separating my Livingroom from the kitchen for my phone and I felt him follow me reluctantly.

"Fitting for what?"

I hit speed dial and met his confused sapphire eyes over my shoulder. "You can't parade around wearing that uniform at my office. People will think you're my new roleplay."

He grunted and crossed his arms. "If only I had my powers."

Even the poor lost little boy look sent butterflies dancing in my stomach. And lower. I wanted to reach out and kiss him better so I turned my attention to the voice of my designer. "Hi Jean-Luc. How are you? Listen, how fast can you get to my place for a fitting?" I bit my lip. "Uh…no darling. This is for my…" I met Scorpio's eyes who glowered at me and I took pity on him. "Cousin. He's visiting from the country and I just can't take him to the corporate office like this? Mmm hmmm. How fast can you get here? Oh! Perfect. See you then." Hanging up, I offered Scorpio a friendly smile. "There, happy? Cousin boundaries."

"Do you believe in those?"

I really tried. I did. But my teeth caught my bottom lip as I slid my gaze over his gorgeous frame. The god scowled and stalked back into the room. "Call me when he gets here so I don't have to suffer your filthy eyes eating me alive."

The door slammed shut and I sighed. I did it again. Dammit I really need to control myself.

#####

"Oh my, but this will be fun."

I had to literally bite my cheek to keep from collapsing with mirth as Jean-Luc pinned the suit around Scorpio. Jean-Luc's hands were nearly shaking as he trimmed here and hemmed there while Scorpio continued to spit daggers at me.

"Oh but this one is divine darling. Where ever did you find him?"

"I swear human, if you touch my crotch one more time, I'll cut you up into a thousand pieces and scatter you to the winds!"

At that my designer paused, his mouth hanging open and I rushed forward to touch his elbow. "Um…play nice Jean-Luc, Sc..er Jack is a little shy and funny. In a dark, dark way." I met Scorpio's eyes carefully, silently begging him to keep up the façade. He seemed to acquiesce with a grunt, but his glare was still aimed right at the poor trembling man now trying to pin him without touching him at all.

"Does everyone you know take liberties with someone else's person?"

They didn't. I really didn't know what to say. So far, Jean and I hadn't been very good examples of self-control where he was concerned and I suddenly felt bad for Scorpio. He was stuck with a woman he didn't know and his powers sealed away on a planet he didn't care for. I really should have picked Taurus. Or Pisces, but it was done. I vowed to be nice to him. And to control myself better.

"Viola." Jean-Luc stepped back and seemed to get over his timid for a moment as he took in his masterpiece. And what a masterpiece it was.

In his godly garb, Scorpio had been gorgeous, but with the fine cuts of the deep blue Boss tweed he was simply breathtaking. Oh he was made for these threads. To be standing in the middle of my home.

I swallowed hard at the almost wish.

Marveling at my idiocy once more, I patted Jean-Luc's shoulder with a clearing of my throat. "Ahem…yes. It's fine. Take it off him and fit it please. We have to be in office for a meeting."

"Oh with pleasure." The designer purred and Scorpio closed his eyes, obviously praying for patience.

And so it began.

#####

"How many cars do you have?"

My head snapped up, and for a moment, I blinked across the room to where Scorpio was lounging on one of my visitor sofas leafing through a magazine. Of course he was still there. I hadn't dreamed his hot little ass up, after all. But immersed in my work and finally realizing he there in all his fallen godly glory – it felt surreal.

He'd found my secret stash of sports car magazines. One more guilty pleasure. His jacket was on the arm, the white shirt open at his throat and for the life of me I couldn't decide what I'd done to deserve the view. Then he lifted those sapphire eyes and glowered at me. Oh right. He's here because I couldn't keep my libido in check. It took me a minute to drag my mind out of the hectic pace of my work and to the man-god now holding my complete attention.

"A few."

"A few is a lot." He let his eyes rove over my office. "How wealthy are you?"

I frowned. That wasn't a question someone asked me out load. "I don't think net worth would mean much to a fallen god."

"No one gets this high up without doing something wrong."

"That's a fallacy." A dark cloud settled over my head and I put my electronic pen down as I crossed my arms. This was a familiar line of questioning. His candor was new, but it wasn't the first time someone thought I was the wicked witch of the west in finely tailored Chanel.

"So how many is a few?"

I grit my teeth and raised an eyebrow. "Out with it. What's on your mind?"

He shrugged and went back to flipping through the magazine. But I could read the anxiety on the fidget of his limbs. "Just wondering if you drive them all." When I didn't answer he relented with a sighed. "I find your motor vehicles…interesting."

It dawned on me that whatever barbs he'd just thrown at me were immaterial. What he really wanted was to get into the metal pants of my Maserati. I held back a smile and met those beautiful blue eyes. Imagined them lit-up with excitement. "Would you like to see some?"

His face was impassive, uninterested. But I saw his eyes. He did want to see them, but there was no way he'd ever admit it. "So why Jack?" he asked evasively.

"It was the first name that popped into my head."

"And the story about showing me around because you wanted to hire me?"

I quirked an eyebrow. "How else was I going to keep you around?"

"I don't know," he rolled his eyes and tossed the magazine on the coffee table, "blackmail my boss and twist my arm? Oh wait."

My shoulders shook. "Wow. A joke. Is that terribly rare?"

"If I make the effort to amuse you human, you'll see it."

"Oh I see it." I grinned and came out of the chair to approach him. And I was both gratified and a little sad when his eyes widened and one of the strongest of the zodiac deities swallowed nervously as I drew closer.

But the nerves were short lived because Scorpio pointed an emphatic finger at me. "Stop stalking. It's unbecoming on a woman."

And just like that, I was visibly slapped and that stopped my feet faster than any other name he'd ever called me. "And it's completely becoming on a man?"

He blinked, confusion clearly etched across his handsome face. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"How can one be separate from the other?" This time I was the one glaring as he raised an eyebrow and slowly but steadily his mouth widened into a gut-wrenching, nasty little grin.

"Did I hit a nerve?"

Oh great. Talk about handing over ammunition, but my righteous indignation nerve had been struck. "No, really. Explain how you didn't just put down my whole gender."

"I put down your entire species."

"You said woman."

"I've said human." And for the first time, I saw a spark of interest as he slid both his arms on the back of the couch, completely back in his alpha male mode. "But it didn't bother you so much then. Interesting."

I wanted to take the wind out of his sails. It was all kinds of irksome to be to blatantly judged. It was something I'd been done by enough men in my life. If I wasn't a sex-crazy rich woman who could pay for anything, I was an unfeeling bitch for moving on. When a man did it, it was because he was a guy. The mere thought of it seemed raise all sorts of hackles. But I am not one to show my vulnerabilities. I didn't get where I was by being unsure. Or afraid.

So I drank in the shock on his handsome face as I took the few steps separating us and leaned down into his face, one hand blatantly braced on his knee. "If we weren't in my office. I would put your mouth where my money is."

His gaze flickered once to the lovely view down the front of my forest green blouse before he frowned up at me. "Careful human, your heart is showing."

"Careful boy," I purred, but my eyes were hard. "Your ego is showing."

When my hand slid up an inch on his knee, he caught it with a flare of his nose. "Is this how you racked up the Sixty two kill list?"

Damn, but his aim was perfect. The vile little scorpion had his tail up. Jerking away from him, I slid my business mask on. He'd struck me. There was no point in letting him see it. "Thirty one. And no. One of them I almost married."

He watched me silently return to the desk and frowned. "You know, I always knew you filthy humans were nothing but selfish creatures ruled by you baser instincts and your need to prove you actually matter. You have just reminded me why I do the work I do."

"You mean granting wishes?"

"That's the idiot with the light, sun and daisies. I am punishment." I looked up at him and for just a moment I saw it all. The madness, the pain, the suffering. And for the first time I saw how damaged he was beyond all that alabaster black and cobalt beauty of him. "How do you live with yourself human?"

I sighed when I realized how easily I'd played into his hand. "Is there a point to this or are you really just trying to distract me from my work? I could come back over there and let you do it too if you promise to take that delicious suit off for me."

"Not happening."

"Then shut up and let me work."

He didn't bother replying as he opened the magazine and proceeded to ignore me again. I took a deep breath and waded back into the familiar world of corporate sharks. They somehow didn't seem as daunting suddenly. And here I'd thought he'd be a pleasant distraction. But I learned that Scorpio could be just as deadly, cutting and painful as the creature he was named for. Perhaps, even a little venomous.

The rest of the day went quietly. Scorpio did appear a little smug that he'd shut me down. I wanted to reach out and kiss that stupid self-confidence off his face, but the truth was my heart _had_ shown. For all his beauty, I forgot that Scorpio was still a man. Very capable of twisting a knife in my gut.

And that was the first night I discovered just how much of my life had changed. There was a great roiling in my belly. It was an odd mix of anger, self-loathing and the need to go to him and demand he listen to my explanation. Not only had he made it particularly clear that he didn't give a shit about my past, but it was clear he wasn't as much of an asshole as he'd like to portray. If he had been, he would have taken the opportunity to bed me and forget me. The idea that he didn't like the power, money and pretty that came in the package that was me…well…it was almost reassuring.

Almost. He hated my entire species – there was that too.

The soothing sounds of rain or delta waves from my nightstand were no match for the speed or girth of my thoughts that night. When I glanced at my clock, I groaned. It was four in the morning. If I didn't at least sleep three hours I wouldn't be able to function through my day. So I reached for the pill box in the drawer and that's when I saw it.

There are no windows that open in my apartment. It's sealed to the point of being air-tight. So you can imagine the sight of my billowing curtains was one that would make me freeze. A chill slithered down my spine and I turned to survey my surroundings.

Empty.

Oh but my instincts and my very pores were screaming it – there was someone in the room with me.

There's a gun in my car, there is another one in my apartment. But I don't sleep with it. So I carefully swept my feet to the floor and rose, every hair on my skin standing on alert. It was almost like I was suddenly surrounded by a pack of hungry jackals.

But my room was still empty.

"Diana."

Head whipping around at the whisper of my name, I saw the flicker of a shadow across the wall. With the night-lighting in my room, there was no way a shadow could form around my armoire. There was a mirror right next to it. I reached for my pillow and it smacked the wall with a thudding splat. My breath left me in a gasp as the shadow flickered and stepped out into the open expanse of my room.

Holy shit, that was not a shadow, it was the almost corporeal form of a person.

And that was where my bravado ended. "SCORPIO!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, repeating his name so many times, so fast, that I didn't know where the first ended and the next began. But the girly-fit did two things: there was a sound of a crash and pounding outside – and the shadow vanished.

The door to my room slapped open as light flooded in from the living room. I barely had time to catch my breath from all the screaming before Scorpio was wrapped around me like a protective shroud. The coming few minutes would make me realize the smart and idiotic dichotomy of my relationship to this particular god.

Like my knight in shining armor, he was with me in an instant, his eyes darting around. But the novelty of my need to be protected was something completely new and unwelcome. As much as I preened under the attention, I couldn't help balk at how easily I had called out to him. In the past, any and all fear was dealt with fortitude and karate. This. Oh god, it was the sordid cliché of all those romance novels I had refused to indulge in as a teenager.

Bare from the waist up, his arms wrapped around my person; he finished the survey of my room and then surveyed me. I had to grit my teeth as he made one extremely personal and thoroughly professional sweep of my physical self. His hands, holy crap, touched EVERYTHING! And therein was my shiny new dichotomy. I was both teeth-grindingly turned on and unreasonably pissed off. At him. Myself. Whatever paranormal, supernatural or asinine shit I had gotten myself into.

_And God! What the hell are you up to?_

"Grey?"

It was when he spoke my name that I realized he'd addressed me by name. Last name, but name. He'd never once actually felt the need to call me anything more than human, or filthy or whorish. Maybe not the last specifically, but you know what I mean. "Diana," I mumbled stupidly. And it was the harsh cut of my voice that made me realize I was still hoarse from screaming and still trembling with both desire and fear. Dichotomy.

I really should have picked Taurus. That way I would at least know what I felt.

His frown was tinted with disappointment, the warm yellow light from the living room giving him an almost golden outline. "If you're well enough to correct me, then you're well enough to let go of me."

Right. My hands were clutching him around the waist almost like he was grounding me to the earth. Dammit, maybe he was. I cursed my need to tether myself to him and scrounged around my brain to look for a flirty quip. Even a lecherous come-on would do. "I…can't."

Oh god! Could this be an more humiliating? And yes. It could.

With a momentary softening of his eyes, Scorpio carefully wrapped his hands around my wrists and pried them off gently. "Easy woman," his voice was more soothing than mocking as he pulled far enough away from me to peer into my face. "What did you see?"

It sounded even more idiotic now that I had gotten my breath back. Looking away from him, I gazed at the spot where the shadow had stood. "Nothing," I mumbled and walked away from him to turn the light on in my room. I swept my gaze around and grit my teeth. Dammit Diana. What the hell did you just do? Was that even real? Maybe a fever dream. I touched my forehead and it was cold, almost clammy. Never in my life had I ever doubted my own eyes.

"You didn't sound like it was nothing."

This time I glared at him. "How do you know, I didn't just want you all shirtless and in my room?"

He quirked an eyebrow, hands braced on his waist. Completely and unapologetically shirtless. "Because for the first time since I've had the misfortune of meeting you, you look scared."

A quake went through me. All hot and bothered. See? Dichotomy. "Get out."

An inky black eyebrow hiked. "You should tell me."

"You should get out." I grit my teeth.

He took a breath and cast one more look around the room before turning on his heel. "I'm leaving my door open."

I slammed my door shut emphatically. His pause outside my door was followed by a colorful curse and then he was gone.

Walking to my armoire I removed the gun and brought it to bed.

TO BE CONTINUED…


	5. Chapter 5

Dust and Stars

* * *

5

I had wanted to get on with my life without a reminder of my vulnerability, but who knew: Scorpio was a tattletale.

I glared at him from my front-door where a cheerful storm and a grumbling Leo stood.

Scorpio only looked up from where he was on the stool by the kitchen counter, gave Storm a nod before going back to flicking his finger over my tablet.

I sighed and met her eyes apologetically. "I made the mistake of introducing him to smart things."

Storm grinned as she stepped in, Leo in tow as usual. "You will never get the tv remote back now."

"I'll get two," muttering under my breath I lead them inside to the living room. Leo meandered his way to my fridge as Storm took the couch with me. We both sat there for a few minutes watching the Lion take over my kitchen and the Scorpion glaring and throwing barbs at him.

"I'm sorry."

Blinking at the honest remorse in Storm's voice, I turned to her. "What for?"

"I dragged you into this."

My smile was rueful. "Oh Walker. Don't be so full of yourself. I have a feeling you were just a means to an end."

A blond eyebrow hiked up. "Uh…thanks, I think?"

Grinning, I bumped my shoulder against her and winked. "There's always a plan. You heard Scaly."

She chocked on her laughter. "Oh Libra will not be very happy you called him that."

"What Libra can't hear…"

She shook her head, her eyes going back to her Lion, a touch of tenderness to her pretty green eyes. "Libra tends to hear a lot."

I felt another twist of envy in my gut. "You really love him, don't you?"

With a pretty little blush the woman chuckled and settled deeper into the couch. "I attract a type apparently."

This time I couldn't help the bark of laughter. It brought the attention of the two deities back to us, but I kept my eyes on Storm. "Hey, I only offered a ride."

"Couldn't help yourself, could you?"

It was a breath of fresh air. Just being in her company. I loved how she could calm things down around her, even if she was comparing me to Leo. Goddess of Storms indeed.

"Stop flirting with my woman." The Lion in question filled my vision as he dropped himself onto the arm of the couch beside Storm, his arm possessively around her, his hands completely staking claim.

I scowled at him and stood up. "Use my seat. Please," I insisted sarcastically, he only complied with an unabashed smirk and continued to sprawl there beside storm. Preening cat. My couch was pretty damned big, but he made it seem quintessentially small.

"Wow, I think the scorpion is rubbing off on you Didi."

"Don't call me…" Scorpio and I snapped in unison before stopping – in unison. Well great. We glared at each other instead now. Maybe letting the Lion in was a bad idea. If I didn't love Storm's company, I might never have opened my door.

Storm and Leo burst out laughing.

"You're right this is more entertaining than watching that dimwitted BFF of yours, date."

"Shut up, Leo." Storm shrugged off his arm and sat forward to draw my attention back from glaring everyone into oblivion. Maybe Scorpio was a bad influence. "Scorpio told us you had a scare last night."

"Yeah, no one remembered to mention Mr. Grumpy Pants was also a gossiping stoolpigeon."

"Watch your mouth, filthy human."

"Watch it for me, why don't you?" I winked and purred back at him.

He characteristically scowled and went back to flicking his tablet. Albeit a bit angrily now. Poor screen.

"Diana?"

I took a deep breath and met Storm's eyes. "It was probably just a nightmare."

"Libra said there might be trouble." Any concern that Leo wanted to convey was completely lost in his deadpan voice and the way he was examining his nails nonchalantly. "Could have been a sign."

I frowned. "A sign of what?"

"Maybe nothing." Leo shrugged, but met my eyes when he continued. "You can see through the looking glass now rich little goldfish. Maybe they see you back."

Dread pooled in my gut as I tried to disguise the sliver of cold fear skating over my skin with a roll of my shoulders. "Who's they?"

"Light. Dark. Good, bad. Who knows?" Leo sang back, non-committal.

Storm sighed at her boyfriend's lack of tact before reaching out to touch my knee. "Please. If something is out of the ordinary. You have to tell Scorpio. We're just worried about you."

The warmth of her hand was meant to sooth me, but the fact that she needed to do that in the first place, made me itch. Rising out of my chair, I stood. "I can take care of myself."

"Diana…"

I smiled widely at her. "So I've got a flight to Atlanta in two hours and Scorpio takes forever to get dressed."

"Powers still not working Scorpy?"

Storm chased Leo out of my apartment with hasty hugs and goodbyes before anything could break. Then it was just the two of us. Again. I opened my mouth to speak, but he turned and stalked off into the guestroom.

Status-quo.

#####

The shadow did not return. It only made me more certain that my new extenuating circumstance and the constant tumult of my emotion around Scorpio were the cause. More certain than what the alternative could be.

"Do you eat?" Was the first thing I said to him in on our third night. We'd had a long day. He'd flown with me to our Florida office and now we were back in DC. If the height of my private jet bothered him, he did not comment. But I saw him admire the sleek silver machine and then I smiled when he touched the hood of my Maserati. Hate humans, my ass. Those gorgeous ink blue eyes were drinking in everything around my life. Especially the machines I played with.

It was a little bittersweet how my life suited him.

Jean-Luc had delivered a few more clothes, and Scorpio happily indulged. It didn't hurt that he looked absolutely divine in whatever he wore. In a soft baby blue collared shirt and grey dress pants from the suit he'd worn today, he lounged on my couch, snapping his fingers. He'd been doing the same thing all through the plane ride. I saw him do it absentmindedly, sometimes thoughtfully, but mostly moodily.

He looked up startled at my random question, his eyes blinking back to the present. Then they seemed widen for a moment as he took in the sight of me. I peered down at the soft pink and grey plaid of my pajama shorts and loose grey university t-shirt I wore. "Is something on backwards?"

"What?"

I frowned at his agape shock, that now bordered on scandalized. "Is something poking out?" His eyes however were completely glued to my legs and that's when I realized a lot of his silent disregard was bullshit. "Hello handsome, I'm up here?"

Gaze snapping up, I was rewarded with a flush across his cheeks as he stood up out of the seat. "Is that on purpose?"

"What exactly?"

"Parading pant-less around me, because I gotta tell you woman. It's not going to work." His eyes snuck another glance towards my legs. Yes man-god. They are long and pretty damned perfect. He glared at me as if it was my fault he was looking. "Cheap ploy."

Momentarily appeased that the boyish Scorpio was still in there with the insults, I put my hands on my hips and smiled at him. My wide and completely unafraid smile. "Come on Scorpio, you've been parading around shirtless to your heart's content. Not that I'm complaining. But this is meant to be comfy, not enticing."

Eyes narrowing, he quirked an eyebrow at me. It was a preamble before he said something snide. I was beginning to see a pattern to him now. "Oh, so we're talking about the night before?"

As much as it pained me to revisit my moment of weakness. I'm not someone who is afraid of many things. "It happened. What's the big deal?"

"Something spooked you woman. I haven't seen a lot that does."

A sliver of excitement and apprehension chased each other's tails in their usual dichotomy of conflicting emotions. He was seeing my patterns too. I winched inwardly, a little more accustomed to the constant need to fuck and kill him all in one breath. "A compliment from you Grumpy Pants? I think I might die of pleasure."

"There are worse ways to go." He snickered then seemed to realize his mistake as my mouth widened into a knowing and rather sexy grin. He scowled immediately for good measure. "Shut up."

"I didn't say anything."

"Oh, I can see what's brewing in that filthy little human brain of yours."

"Truce." He was going to stalk off again so I held up my hands in surrender and he paused at the foot of the couch. "How about we order something to eat? My housekeeper won't be back till tomorrow. Her sister is having a baby and I gave her a few days off. And since my fruit keeps disappearing, I thought you and I could share a real meal for a change." I walked to the cordless phone and felt his eyes following me. "Pizza, okay?"

"I don't eat."

I frowned. "The case of the disappearing apples says otherwise."

He shrugged. "Since you ate mine. I figure it was only fair."

I raised an eyebrow. "Really? The one in the mansion was yours? Why didn't you say so? I would have given it back."

"Your filthy mouth was already on it. Like I'd want it then." He snorted and looked out my window.

There was a whistle in my head and everything sharpened to that one point. He was only a few feet away and I'd pretty much had it by then. "You know," I shook my head before tossing the cordless back on its stand, "I think it's high time we find out for real."

He sensed the danger before he saw me stalking straight at him. "Find out whAMPHH!"

God or no god, I move pretty fast when I want to. The moment it took for him to brace one hand back on the glass, I had my hand braced on his racing heart, the other wrapped around his nape.

I kissed him with my filthy mouth.

His sharp intake of breath was cut short by my angry need to tell him exactly what I thought of his constant scorn. But oh god, I had expected resistance, a brief, angry moment, maybe a realization or two. What I got instead was so much worse. His mouth was twin-laced with age-long fear and hopeful hunger for absolution. Where I had meant to strike at him, I was suddenly stumbling. Because his kiss was sweeter than I had expected. Like cheap little magnets we seemed to snap into place and the gasp between our parted lips was shared as his hands clutched the shirt at my waist, his mouth angling to fit mine better.

And we kissed. All lips, teeth and tongue. A wet, decadent fire set so low that we had to hold onto each to keep from going up into flames. It would have been so much easier to just take what he was unable to deny me. But there was a tremble to his frame that I had never felt before. Thunderstruck, I realized he was feeling something new.

Pulling away, my mouth left his with a click so precise we might have been two puzzle pieces; I took a wide step away from him.

For a moment we both stood there, our arms still up, mouths still slick with just how much neither of us had wanted to break the kiss. When his eyes flicked open, they were liquid sapphire. And nearly feral.

My hands splayed out, eyes going a little wide when I realized the Scorpion could very well jump me. But he seemed to react to my surrender with a sharp intake of breath and then the hunger was replaced with shock. Scorpio gaped at me. We both knew his shock wasn't that I'd kissed him. It came from the fact that he'd kissed me back, had wanted it – and liked it.

His back was still pressed against my window, a sea of stars behind him; his mouth open and wet from my kiss, his dark, dark blue pupils blown wide.

As much as my entire body was screaming to go for seconds, I swallowed hid my euphoric smile behind my hand. Oh dear.

"How. Dare. You." his voice was still ragged, mouth still glistening from my kiss and I wanted to be fearful of the sudden flare of fury on his beautiful face. But I couldn't bring myself to be sorry, much less afraid.

"I didn't mean to…"

"Don't!" He lifted a finger and took a snarling step closer. "You meant to do that EXACTLY!"

Lifting my hands in surrender. "Okay fine, but it wasn't like you were protesting."

"I'm protesting now, woman! How DARE you…"

"Kiss you?" I laughed, my own skin flushed with what I had done or undone in him. I really hadn't mean to make his life harder. Okay that was a lie. "It was a kiss Scorpio. Calm down. I didn't defile you or anything." I tilted my head curiously. "Was that your first?"

"From a vile filth human! How dare you touch me!"

I sighed as he sputtered and tried to find the worst words to call me. "I think we've established you're just as filthy now that you had my tongue down your throat."

Sapphire eyes widening in horror. Perhaps more because I'd named the serpent that coiled inside him or because he didn't expect me to be so blunt. He only opened his mouth once or twice before a cloud darkened his face and he stalked into the guest room.

The door slammed shut.

I let out a deep breath. "Right." And there is was the future of all my interactions with Scorpio. Parry, parry, poke and retreat. Shaking my head I touched my throbbing temple and decided to drink a protein shake and go to bed. My days were only going to get longer from here.

But my smile just wouldn't go away: _I'd kissed Scorpio and he liked it!_

TO BE CONTINUED…


	6. Chapter 6

Dust and Stars

* * *

6

I knew it in my bones that the kiss had affected him because now his gaze seemed to glare at my mouth like it was the worst offender he'd ever met. Like and adversary he hadn't been able to vanquish. My work day had me going from meeting to meeting. It would have been so much harder to explain him to all my partners and clients, so I managed to convince him to wait in a nearby room where he could see me at all times. It was difficult, because wary as he was of me, he really did want to adhere to the task he was assigned. Which was to keep me safe.

I still didn't understand why it was necessary, but I didn't mind his company. More than anything, I also enjoyed the way people looked at him. The way they looked at my Maserati. Something meant for me. Something they couldn't have. I know. I'm a vile person.

And therein lay my problem. I really did want him in _some_ way. Any way possible. It was excruciating to look up from my laptop and see him exploring my office, my apartment. Touching and toying with shields, medals, books. My home. I would inescapably be reminded of the taste of him and it would nearly tear another groan from me. Belatedly, I realized just how idiotic I had been for acquiring this lovely new brand of torture for myself.

Kissing him once meant I would only want more and vehemently so.

But perhaps a white flag of trust first.

"My Maserati is due for an oil change. Would you like to come?"

It was a cheap ploy. Exactly the kind he expected from me. But I shameless dangled the prospect under his nose. He loved to drive with me. I would take what I could get.

He blinked up, the apple he was eating still halfway to his mouth. "What?"

"The car needs an oil change every four or five months. I'm going to go down to the showroom today. Want to come?"

A muscle tightened in his jaw. "You make it seem as if I can refuse."

Sighing at his need to play the victim, I pulled off my glasses and met his gaze steadily. "Stop sulking Scorpio. It's not as hot on you as grumpy."

"Bonus." He smirked wickedly and took a vicious bite of his apple.

"That was just mean."

"So is attacking me."

Rolling my eyes I closed my laptop and stood to grab my jacket. "I kissed you. There's a difference."

"Attacking with your mouth is just as fi… bad."

I grinned when he didn't use his favorite insult on me. "You kissed me back."

A hot flush going down his neck, he stood and marched into the kitchen, throwing the apple core angrily into the trash. "You caught me off-guard."

"You liked it." If looks had been able to kill, I would be a pile of ash on the floor. Taking pity on the conflicted man and heartening in the fact that he didn't deny it, I offered him a genuine smile. "They have the latest model of the Gran Turismo MC on display. It's the one with…"

"4.7-Litre V8 and wishbone suspension," his answer was one breath, eyes wide with excitement.

I wanted to hug him.

But the new boyish light in his eyes forced me to keep my distance. "In Triumphant Red."

He licked his lips then winced and picked up the suit jacket he'd discarded on the back of the couch when he came back from work. "I hate you."

Laughing, I picked up my purse and keys. They did say the way to a man's heart…

Our drive to and from the office were his favorite times. On the road, I watched the way he drank in all the details of how I handled the car. How I cut corners. He didn't really speak to me on our way there, but there was a lighter, easier light to his sapphire eyes. The wary loathing was gone.

Suddenly we shared a common interest.

When we got to the showroom, I parked outside the main entrance. His eyes were fixed on the cars slowly rotating on the platforms beyond the huge glass windows. Shining, inviting and breathtaking.

"Do you want to look around while I drop the car at the service bay?"

He turned to me with a flicker of doubt.

My grin was lopsided. "Come on Hotty. All you have to do is promise not to call anyone human or filthy. Or I'll be really jealous."

"But I can't protect you, if I can't see you."

I leaned over, taking a deliberate breath of the scent of pine and burnt amber as I popped his door open. I heard his sharp intake of breath through his nose when my right breast pressed against his arm. "Five minutes. I promise."

I could almost feel his indecision, then unable to help himself, he was out and jogging up the steps. A pretty brunette salesgirl walked up to greet him and froze. Wearing the Armani, dark, charcoal colored suit and a deep wine collared shirt open around his throat I honestly felt very sorry for the woman.

Grinning, I pulled around the building and drove up the ramp.

It took me a few minutes longer than five to make my way up to the showroom. I realized perhaps I had been too benevolent. The rotating platform with the beautiful devil-red car was nothing compared to the grinning, sapphire eyed man sitting at the steering wheel running his hands over it as if it was a lover. Stepping out of the elevator, I felt a neurotic tick forming in my temple as I watched the flock of salesladies and a few salesmen catering to the only customer they had.

And what a customer he was.

If I hadn't meant for this to be a buffer between our last kiss and the next, which I was hoping for, then I had to give him a little space. It killed me to watch the two women fawning over him. Touching without asking, looking without permission and dreaming in abandon.

Then my pulse skated off kilter.

He met my eyes and the sudden flare of that heart-stopping grin was directed entirely on me. Breath halting in my chest, I froze there, a few feet away. A new heady kind of fear bloomed in my chest. It was the awareness that I was feeling something for this man-god I had not felt for any man in nearly a decade. I knew I looked exactly like he had when I'd kissed him.

_Oh god_, I lamented inwardly. This was not just because he was hot as hell. _I'm screwed._

Not noticing my sudden halt, he came out of the car in one fluid motion and walked straight at me. "Diana! It has red leather seats! Red!"

I opened my mouth, but he'd already caught my hand and was dragging me into the pits of hell.

#####

It was going to be hell falling for Scorpio, and I was burning to ashes already.

We were easier after our trip to the showroom. The initial shock of how deep I could be falling for this one seemed to have settled into a slow hum in my belly. He found a certain amity with me as we discussed cars and gadgets. I began to see a pattern to our interaction. It became softer. He didn't mind expressing his opinions and he actually began to respond to my questions.

Like the finger snapping. Eventually I called him out on it. "What is that exactly?"

At the obtuse question, he frowned at me from where he was engrossed in his habit. "Am I supposed to know what that means?"

"The finger snapping."

With a scowl he went back to watching his gloved fingers snap again. And again. And again. It was when I was there and holding his hand that he spoke. "I keep waiting for them to work."

"If you're working on them annoying me – oh it's working." I dropped his hand and stood before him, arms crossed. "Out with it Scorpio. What's going on?"

He huffed and looked away, his profile bitter and pensive suddenly. "Storm told you why we're stuck in your world."

"Thrown out of heaven for some sin or the other."

A muscle tightened in his jaw, eyes still on the night sky out of my huge bay windows. "I used a forbidden power."

I blinked. "Um…like magic bread or something."

His mouth curled into a sardonic smile as he met my eyes. "I punished someone for my own sake rather than the Almighty's."

Eyes widening, I carefully sat into the seat across from him. "How very selfish of you."

"We're not allowed selfishness and we're also not allowed to dispense justice without the scales."

"You mean Libra. I'm assuming you didn't tell him."

There was a flash of admiration in his eyes. "You're smart. For a lecherous little human."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, I'm vile. So what did you do exactly?"

At first I thought he'd pick me up and toss me through my lovely expensive window, but then he seemed to resign himself to his fate as he mumbled under his breath. "I used to be human."

I heard him anyway. His admission hit me with the force of an oncoming freight train. For a few breaths, I teetered there on edge before my words burst through. "Bullshit."

"How can shit this offensive be bull," he shot back with equal crass.

"God, Scorpio," I shook my head leaning back in my seat. "You hypocrite."

His gaze hardened, a flicker of red seemed to chase blue in his eyes. "Watch your mouth woman."

"Why? Because it's true. Of all the name calling, completely asinine need to put down my entire species! You were one of us!"

"And I was JUST as depraved as the rest of you!" He thundered nearly shaking with fury as he rose to his feet.

It should have scared the hell out of me. He was pretty damned intimidating in all his icy black and blue glory. I shouldn't have bought him that navy blue shirt. It was hard to imagine him as anything but the man wrapped around me, kissing everywhere. Taking a deep breath, I held his gaze. "Politician?"

"Assassin."

Breath seemed to lodge somewhere between my chest and throat and I choked, drawing forward to put my hands on my knees. Holy crap. He didn't do anything halfway did he? "That's…wow. Ahem," I cleared my throat. "I didn't expect…"

He rose and walked to the window, hands shoved into the pockets of his dark pants. The truth was, I couldn't see it. This gorgeous, snarly man could be foul-mouthed and wicked, but I couldn't see him killing professionally. It was then that I really began to realize just what the hell I'd gotten myself into. I'm a woman who is pretty damned secure in herself. I am not afraid of a lot of things. But suddenly seeing him with blood splattered all over his clothes, his eyes devoid of the blue fire I was so used to seeing, it was unthinkable. And scary as all hell.

"What did you expect?"

I didn't realize he'd spoken until I looked up to find him gazing back at me. There was an odd kind of expectation in his eyes even though his face was passive. It was almost as if he wanted me to tell him I expected better. More. I wasn't sure. But the scorpion's tail was down. It was all kinds of wrong to want to wrap my arms around him and take him away from whatever demons still licked at his heels. To think he exorcised them all alone.

I rose slowly and carefully came to stand beside him, looking out at the stars the same way he had been. "I'm sorry," I murmured and felt the shock almost palpably go through him. "It must be a terrible burden to live with. Now that you're responsible for dispensing His justice. The hand of God and all that."

When he didn't respond, I turned my head to see him watching me, his eyes glittering like stars. I wanted to touch him, the need was almost painful. "I can imagine you didn't feel clean enough to dispense anything until you'd resolved your past."

Those sapphire eyes widened a moment, his Adam's apple flicking as he swallowed whatever emotion I couldn't read on him. "I shouldn't have."

"Maybe," the back of my hand grazed his knuckles and I felt a shiver go through me when he didn't pull away this time. Or perhaps it was his. I couldn't tell. "But you couldn't move past it until they paid."

With a huff he took a step away from me. "How do you…" He seemed to struggle with the words for a moment before he growled. "Do not presume to know me human."

And the scorpion tail was back up. I rolled my eyes and stepped out of the intimate picture we'd painted in the window. "It felt good. You dealt with it. Now move on."

Maybe he meant to scare me. Maybe he meant to keep me close. Because when he caught me wrist, I instinctively dug me feet in and it allowed for a moment of an awkward little tug of war. My resistance was instinctive. But he was caught a little off-guard by my ability to hold my ground. Scorpio eventually let go, eyes now wary. "You are unlike any woman I have ever met."

My frowned darkened. "Maybe that's a good thing."

He shook his head. "How do you do that?" He finished his previous question. "How do you see past everything?"

I raised an eyebrow, my heart giving an uncharacteristic leap when I realized he wasn't angry, but confused by my need to empathize with him. "God, I really want to say, it's because you're so hot, but honestly," I paused and gratified when he turned his head almost as if waiting for me to finish. "I think everyone's a little filthy. And there's nothing wrong with that."

"Don't romanticize it." He scowled at that. "I went in and picked them off one by one."

My spine tingled with the image he presented. It was terrifying, purposeful and deadly. A part of me didn't want to see him this way. A part of me only wanted to see the pretty outer wrapping. But that was my usual problem. Most men I dated had the pretty bow on top. What came out from underneath was nothing I could ever stomach. So why was I commiserating with the Lord of Punishments?

The answer was much harder to acknowledge – even to myself. "Are you afraid I'll run?"

His eyes caught fire and I knew I'd nailed him with my perceptiveness. Any encounters he had with the opposite sex probably took one look into his darkness and left. I could tell he was confused, if not a little fascinated by my need to stroke him. Because that's what I had done, without even touching him. I could tell it disconcerted him.

With a snarl of fury, he stepped into my personal space, all six feet of darkness and reckoning baring down on me. "I am struck down from the heavens for a massacre and you think I'm afraid of YOU? Do you think putting this behind me is just a matter of snapping my fingers_" and he did. He'd lifted his hand between our faces and snapped his fingers; probably to mock me, but it backfired.

Oh how it backfired.

I had barely caught my breath as the world shifted around us and gravity sank its teeth into me.

Almost grotesquely I hung suspended in midair; it was perhaps a faction of a second. But it was enough for the both of us to realize what had happened.

And then I was hurtling down through thin air, the city a sea of blinking lights. In that moment I couldn't tell which way I was falling. To the sky or the ground. And my world dissolved into streaks of light.

I should have been afraid. But I swear to God, there is something sublimely calming about falling. Or maybe I'm just screwed up. I didn't scream. I wasn't afraid. All I felt was…free. I might have laughed.

Then arms like bands of steal snatched me out of the eye of the storm and I was dragged against a heaving chest and the deafening clamor of life. His heart was screaming against my ear, my breath screeching against my teeth, the winds around us nearly violent and unforgiving as we clung to each other. It was madness, but it was euphoric.

For the life of me, I couldn't tell which one of us had fallen.

Neither of us had the courage to let go, so we hung there suspended in that inexplicably beautiful, painfully afraid tableau, the sparkle of the stars as brilliant and blinding as the city lights below. If anyone saw us, they'd think we were dancing, but really we were just trying to hold each together for fear of shattering into a million little pieces.

Eventually it was Scorpio who took a shuttered breath and I heard the distinct snap of his fingers. When the plush carpet of my living room shifted beneath our feet we fell apart, breathless and terrified.

Then he started to undress.

Startled out of my stupor, my heart beat slid off kilter. I took a staggering step back as whipped the blue shirt off his back._ Holy, were we really…_ But he marched right past me to the mirror behind my couch.

_Wait…what?_ Slapped out of my desire-swathed brain, I gaped while he turned to examine the black and purple crest tattoo on his shoulder as if it hadn't always been there. From my previous recollection of his shirtless self, and I remembered it pretty damned well, he'd always had it. "Impossible," he whispered as he turned this way and that.

Impossible was right. Shaking my head, I closed my eyes and prayed for patience. This man-god would be the death of me. Nothing seemed to progress in its usual order with him and I. For all practical purposes, we should have been on the floor with our hands all over each other; but instead his hands were all over himself.

The headache I could feel coming on would never go away, I lamented, as I turned away and stalked straight into my kitchen. All the heavens be damned, I needed a drink. Which is what I proceeded to do by opening the wine cabinet, popping the cork of an old bottle and drowning myself in it.

I felt more than heard him approach as he came to stand across the island counter between the kitchen and my living room. I took a deep fortifying breath before turning to meet his wonder-filled eyes.

"It's fading." He seemed completely confused and euphoric all at the same time. "My mark of sin. I'm getting my powers back."

I wanted to deck him. And I probably could. He wouldn't even see me coming. I coughed lightly, the alcohol still burning an angry trail down my throat. It was probably best to wait. I'd have to tell him later how close he came to being smacked and smooched, not exactly in that order. "Oh, I gathered as much after my death-defying drop."

He winced, suddenly sheepish. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize…it was an accident. I hadn't really…"

He didn't deserve my pity but I held out the bottle. Reaching across the counter he took it without a thought to how my filthy human mouth had been on it and drained it dry.

I bit back a smile. There was something guilelessly sexy about this shirtless man with all the dichotomy of his divinity. For a moment I wanted to hug him and tell him, it was okay to feel so off-balance. It was almost sad that his human life had probably been one of blood and darkness alone. A part of me suddenly wished his divine life had been better. More.

And then he had to go and ruin my tender moment as he caught a gloved finger in his teeth in an attempt to pull them off.

My brain and crotch salivated together: _Fuck. _"Scorpio?" I spoke softly when he finally had one glove off and before he could reach for the other. Because seriously!? A woman can take only so much!

"Yeah?" Looking up, his mind was obviously elsewhere judging by the glaze of his sapphire eyes.

I felt like a jerk for bringing up the elephant in the room, but it was high time before I did something he'd regret. Drumming my fingers on the counter top, I allowed myself a few seconds of drinking in the sight of him with all his fine lines and black gloves. "Would you like me to climb over his thing and put my mouth over every inch of you that's unclothed?"

The scorpion went preternaturally still. He smelled the danger of my intentions, but I had surprised him. There was also a flash of unguarded hunger on his beautiful face before it was gone. A sensuous growing part of him that purred a 'yes please' from the very real darkening of his sapphire eyes.

Shit.

It was now or never.

"Put your shirt back on," I grinded out through grit teeth and stormed past him.

"Diana…?"

If there was jumping of any bones, I planned for it to be mutual. "Cold shower," I snarled back and walked into that shower with my clothes on. When he didn't follow, I grit my teeth against the agonizing chill of the water. Drowning would have been less agonizing as I felt the steam rise from my lust-heated skin.

Everything was going to hell now. I just didn't know how accurate that would end up being.

TO BE CONTINUED…


	7. Chapter 7

Dust and Stars

* * *

7

My Sunday morning seem to blend into my evening. We spent the day as far away from each other as was possible. Which wasn't very far. He lounged on his bed in the guest room with a clear line of sight to the living room where I sat surrounded by my papers and laptop. My tablet was forever in his lap now. Lucky bastard.

It wasn't like me to be working on my off day, but where the hell could we go when I was keeping my distance? Oh yeah. It was mostly me. I could feel his eyes on me all the time now; like he was trying to figure me out. He was also polishing his powers popping in and out of different walls in my apartment. It was disconcerting and annoying as hell. It was also a cheap ploy for me to lock horns with him. The fact that he was itching for my attention should have been gratifying, but I was suddenly completely scared of him. Of myself. Of how much more complicated this was than just getting into his pants. Today he was wearing dark blue designer jeans and I had snapped a pencil between my teeth since he'd sauntered past the coffee table. Twice. On purpose.

Preening asshole.

At least my housekeeper was back. She flittered in and out of rooms, cleaning, cooking and primping as she went. Amelia was a sweetheart. She'd taken one look at Scorpio, cleared her throat and gone on with her work. It almost made me want to cry. Did a new man in my life only warrant a glance? Had I really gone through thirty-one? And as much as it had never bothered me, the number began to knaw on me. I had really bad taste in men. And now I was really in the wringer with this one.

Falling for a god. I let my head drop into my hands. I didn't know what to feel about that: certifiable or blasphemous?

"Get up."

Startled, my head snapped up as I blinked blearily. "Um…excuse me?"

Towering over me he scowled darkly. "If you sigh one more time woman, I'm going to throw myself out the window."

"They don't open."

"Bet they cost a lot."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "What are you doing?"

"I'm taking us out."

That got my attention. Pulling my glasses off, I shifted away from my laptop and gave him my undivided attention. He was serious. Deadly so. When he didn't elaborate, I wiped my sweaty palms on my pant legs and shook my head. "I'm busy with…"

"You're not. You're avoiding me and it's starting to grate on my fucking nerves." I frowned at the expletive and he held out his hand. "Yes, there's more than my nerves that you'd like to be fucking, but it is what it is. Get up."

Mouth lilting up into a lopsided smirk, I let him draw me up to my full height. "Seriously Scorpio. What are you really doing?"

"Changing the scenery." He was already pulling me towards the door. "Amelia, lock up when you leave, I'm taking Diana out."

"Okay Mr. Jack. I will wash and put out those apples on the counter before I leave."

"Wha…"I looked over my shoulder as Amelia waved from the kitchen.

"Thanks!" He called back before yanking my apartment door open.

"Wait just a damn minute!" Pulling on his hand, I paused to pick up my jacket and replace my flipflops with my favorite walking shoes. "Since when are you and Amelia on a first name basis? Why is she calling you Jack?"

"Since I've actually been talking to people around me all morning." He smirked and twirled my car keys around his finger. "I'm driving."

I tried to snatch them out of his hand, but he'd already stepped into the hallway as we made our way to the elevator. There were only two penthouses on my floor and the other had always been empty. I liked it that way, so when we pinged for the elevator it was already there. "Like hell you are, hand over my keys." When he held them high over his head, I crossed my arms and held out my hand. "You know I could just kick you in the crotch and take them from you?" When he continued to dangle them like an invitation, which in reality was probably mocking for how much taller he was, l stepped closer. Instantly his eyes flickered with panic, but he did a pretty decent job of concealing it. I'd just learnt to read him better. Or maybe, his panic was short-lived now. Here's hoping.

To his credit, he didn't flinch when I slid a finger down the front of his soft pink tailored shirt. Jean-Luc said it would suit him. And wowsies, did it. "Or, I could stop this elevator and wrestle you for them."

His smirk didn't waver, but he caught my hand and lifted his other hand to snap his fingers. "You wish."

I raised an eyebrow when the snap of his fingers yielded no results. "Losing your touch?"

"I am completely capable of driving now."

"That doesn't necessarily mean you can."

"What's the matter human? Afraid to put yourself in my hands?" His purr and sudden hooded gaze sent my heart racing as I realized just how comfortable he'd become in my presence. With my touch. The way his big hand still held mine against his chest. Perhaps captive. Perhaps accepting.

I held his gaze with caution. I heinously tested my luck as I reminded him of just how intimately he was holding me. "Isn't that what I've done since the moment I picked you at the mansion?"

Something unreadable went through his eyes and I heard him draw a soft breath before pulling away, the keys firmly captured in his fist. Holding it like a prize. But his eyes were not guarded. In fact, they retained the same good humor we'd been sharing. "Must you reiterate my tragedies, human?"

"You forgot filthy," I purred as the door slid open and I led us to the garage.

"That's a given."

And just like that we were back in sync. Oh there was no denying the unsaid between us now. He was a part of this new awareness, rather than someone looking in. It was sweetly exciting, and scary as all hell. For him too, I guaranteed.

So we took our time. The drive turned out to be just that. A change of scenery. I felt a pang when my Maserati purred and responded to Scorpio's confident, eerily experienced touch. For the first time, I was envious of my car. The way he touched it, handled it, was almost reverent. But the drive was as exhilarating as always. I let the speed and hum of the engine take me from this strange new life that I had chosen for myself. And it was even more breath-stealing that that the man besides me was a part of it. Perhaps a bit more willingly now.

Driving for me had always been about being alone. It was usually just me, my machine and the open road. I didn't have a chauffeur for exactly that reason. So many of my peers would frown and comment on my need to drive. But the ones who knew me saw how it was just another extension of my freedom. My need to be alone with myself.

Now with the man god maneuvering us through those familiar roads, I realized he fit right into my solitude. And I was once against poignantly reminded of how well he fit into my life. How it suited him. How I longed to keep him in it. My perfect compliment.

And somehow, Scorpio seemed to need our shared solitude. There was no music. No chatter. Just the sound and power of the engine beneath us as he drove us out of the city. The houses turned to trees, the avenues turned to winding roads and I realized we'd been driving for a good hour by the time I saw rolling fields and towering mountains. It really was beautiful here if you ever got time to get away from the city. The sun hadn't set yet, but the sky had started to turn vermilion and chartreuse. Almost as if reading my mind, he gently rolled the Q4 to a stop on the shoulder. We'd found a particularly pretty change of scenery.

When I stepped out to stand there leaning my hip against the solid heat of my car hood, he came to stand beside me, hands in his pockets. And for a moment we just enjoyed the company. Of nature and each other.

"Diana?"

I really didn't want us to talk. I wanted to turn around and bury myself into him. His voice was uncertain and I felt idiotic for all the times I'd teased him. He expected that's what I'd do – jump him. That's where all this hesitation was coming from. Maybe he didn't know how to initiate it. Maybe he was as afraid of all that was between us now. And I really wanted to give him time to sort out his feelings. "Please don't." I closed my eyes and counted to ten. If he touched me I wasn't going to be able to hold myself back. He was right there. The Maserati hood was right there. All my lewd fantasies had come out to play. Dear god, give me strength.

"Diana…"

This time his voice was without hesitation and a touch warning.

"You brought this upon yourself…" I snarled and turned to throw my arms around him. But my words choked into a yelp of panic.

We were surrounded.

In the fading light of the dusk, they stood in an ominous ring around us. Swallowing hard, I slid one hand up into his shirt and clutched the expensive material a tad cruelly. The shadows flickered and became more solid as the light faded. They were real. I hadn't imagined it. "Please tell me you see…"

"Get in the car." He caught my hand and pushed. "Slowly"

I didn't want to let go of his shirt, but there was no way we were going to get anywhere attached. I mustered what was left of my courage and forcefully pulled my hand from him before sliding around my fender to slip back into the car. He was with me in an instant. That was when I noticed where he was. "What the…"

"I'm driving." My traitorous car purred to life as he pressed the ignition.

Panicked, I caught his arm, eyes still on the growing shadows around us. "Are you MAD!? This is a getaway, not an excursion!"

"I Youtubed car chases."

"God, you're such a man! MOVE OVER!" In the couple of seconds that it took for me to climb over him and he carefully slid out from under me, we touched everywhere. But for once neither of us noticed. When I was firmly in my seat and changed gears, the shadows began to snarl and I saw big gaping teeth. "Oh my god, what are they?"

"JUST GO!" His hand clamped down hard on mine where it clutched the gear and I floored the accelerator.

The Maserati shot through the almost fully formed creatures, sending one thudding and screeching over the hood. This side of the countryside had no street lamps. Which meant there was no respite. I remembered how Scorpio had thrown my bedroom door open and chased away the one in my apartment. My mind ran over the maps in my head before I spoke to the GPS.

"What the hell! Is this thing talking!?" Scorpio went crashing into his door as I turned left.

"Put your seatbelt on!" I held his arm and looked in the rearview mirror. "Take me home," I told my GPS and a course was plotted on the map on the screen.

"Diana."

"For god's sake Scorpio, it's just the GPS."

"NO LOOK OUT!"

Eyes snapping back to the road, I swerved around another materializing shadow and put both my hands on the wheel. This isn't how I imagined putting my Maserati through its paces. We had been through a lot together, but a car chase with supernatural beings was not one of the things on our to-do list.

"Turn right in four hundred meters."

"Make it stop talking!"

Gritting my teeth, I checked my rearview mirror to see there were at least four shadows flying right on my tail. "Kinda busy here!" I swung through a tight turn and the tires screeched as the car pressed lower to the ground, compensating for the speed. It was just as well the machine could handle itself, because if I had attempted that in another car, I would have put us in the barn across the road.

It should have been thrilling and my adrenaline was pumping, but more than that I was shit scared of what was behind us. "Explanation time man-god!"

"Cerberus."

"What! Like the three headed pet of Hades?"

"No like the hounds of hell meant to hunt wayward demons."

I cut another turn as the GPS shot off directions.

"Damn woman, but this car can move."

"I am too terrified to gloat! Why are they after us!"

It was then that Scorpio's eyes turned to me ominously. "They are after _you_ Diana."

I stared out of the windshield driving down the road with the sound of snarling and crunching paws behind us. Even the Maserati's twin-turbo, V6 engine could not drown them out.

"I don't think they expected our finely armored steed."

"Way to change the subject." I muttered as we roared through an intersection. I was infinitely grateful for the lack of traffic. It took all of my courage to peek into the rearview mirror…and find it empty. "Did we lose them?"

"They're probably regrouping."

"How comforting." I saw the flicking lights of the city loom closer. We were driving twice as fast, as was my heart, but it hadn't been half an hour since they found us. We were still ten minutes out of any area with light. "Keep your eyes peeled."

"What does that even mean?" He scowled and turned in the seat to look behind us, before checking through all the windows. "I think we losDIANA!"

A dog the size of a rhinoceros stood snarling in the middle of the road in front.

I barely had time to draw a breath or hit the brakes before Scorpio had opened his belt, thrown himself over me and snapped his fingers.

There was a bone crushing shriek and a thunderous crash as the world exploded to light around us. I remember hitting the ground, I remember a scrape there, a bruise there. But more than that, I felt the warmth of the man wrapped around me as everything became gold and white. For the longest time, I just held on to him for dear life, my head buried into his chest, his hand completely around the shell of my cranium. And we fit.

When the darkness slowly crept into my vision, I opened my eyes to see us standing on the side of the road. A faint glow coming from the man-god I clung to. And for the first time since I got into this mess, I saw him in his true godly form. All armored in gold and crimson. From the curls of metal that whorled around his shoulders, arms and legs, a crimson tattoo slanted down his solar plexus like war paint. And that inky black hair and gone the same shade of crimson. Like blood.

He was looking around, the glow illuminating everything around us in a halo. I was looking up at him. It was when I reached out to push the fringe of his hair out of his eyes, that he blinked down at me. His eyes seemed to widen as if suddenly realizing what I was seeing in him.

It was blood. I keened inwardly. The color of it soaked into everything he was. Even his eyes. And the only thing I remember feeling as I gazed up at him transfixed by his beauty, was how sad I was for him. What a legacy to live up to.

"Stop looking at me like that."

Breath caught in my throat, I jerked my hand away and stepped out of the heat of him. What he'd said had been less of an insult for once and more of a plea. To drag myself away from the need to embrace him again and tell him I wanted to paint him in green and blue and pink, I looked at my car and gasped. "Oh, fuck me sideways."

"And they said I had a foul mouth." He hadn't stopped glowing but I felt him close his eyes and pray for patience

I could look away from the crumpled mess of what used to be my beloved Maserati. "My Maserati!" I cried in outrage. "Are you kidding me!" Stomping towards it I touched my throbbing temple, panic and dread that had somehow forgotten to manifest, suddenly hit me like a tidal wave. Turning my face up to the heavens, I glared. "Are you SERIOUSLY kidding me!" I screamed myself hoarse, but the night was completely silent.

"Diana, please."

I pointed to the wreck that was once my beautiful best friend as I continued to glare up into the sky, nearly trembling with the unjustness of it. "Really!? THIS is how you pay me back for all my faith. Take a limb, why don't you!"

A shaking Scorpio caught my forearms and forced me to meet his eye. Turning my glare to him, I thought he was probably furious at my audacity with the Almighty, but what I saw instead was laughter. Barely suppressed, untamable laughter. Startled by this new face on the man-god who had done nothing but smirk and scowl at me, I gawped up at him.

OMG! Laughing turned this sourly grumpy hotty into the cutest, most huggable thing I'd ever seen. Even if he was still colored in gold and blood. "What's so funny?"

His fingers tightened on my arms for a second as if he was going to embrace me, but seemed to reign in the need and touched a bruise on the side of my head. A distraction. "I swear woman. But you realize it's just a car."

I stared at him in abject horror "JUST a car!?" I balked. "JUST a car! This was my favorite hundred thousand dollar best friend! Do you even KNOW what we've been through together!? I stepped into another dimension with this!"

Rubbing the back of his neck, he bit back a smile as he glanced at the poor crumpled heap of metal. "Uh, yeah. I was there. So…how long have you had it?"

Squaring my shoulders, I crossed my arms defensively. "Four months."

The God of Scorpio turned narrowed eyes to me slowly. "And before this…"

"I had a Porsche okay? A PORSCHE! This was me! The real me! With the trident and the adaptive cruise control and the built in WIFI hotspot and the leather seats and…you have no idea what those are, do you?"

His eyebrows were near his hair as he watched me throw a crazy fit.

Scowling, I looked forlornly at the mess of my car. "It's color also matched your eyes."

And I could tell that pleased and embarrassed him as most of the things that came out of my mouth now. With a clearing of his throat, he surveyed our surroundings. "Right. Okay…so it can't be fixed?"

"This? Hmph. No auto shop will touch me."

Scorpio let out a heaving sigh. I frowned at him when he held out his hand as if it pained him to do it. When realization didn't dawn on me, he rolled his eyes and put his fingers together as if to snap them.

Mouth falling open in shock, I took a step closer to him. "You'd do that? For me?"

That beautiful mouth twisted up into an insufferable grin. "If you'll let me change the color."

And just like that, I was back to wanting to kiss and kill him all in one breath. Conniving, two-bit…

I stalked off.

There was another bubble of laughter before I heard him jog after me. "Come on, it was a little funny. Do you really think divine powers should be wasted on such frivolous human idiocies."

"Go frivolous yourself!"

In the end, he didn't help me with the car. I called my assistant and told her to get it back to my garage. It was a total loss. There was no doubt in my mind. And no matter how much Scorpio teased me, I couldn't help that somehow the real threat that had chased us through those streets was purposefully ignored. There was no doubt in either of our minds that things had gotten fairly complicated and extremely dangerous.

TO BE CONTINUED…


	8. Chapter 8

Dust and Stars

* * *

8

Libra was not happy when we got to the mansion. "I'm taking you back to the Ministry."

"Yeah, that's not going to happen." I crossed my arms where I sat on the couch with Scorpio beside me. "Scorpio did fine keeping me safe."

"He manifested himself out in the open! Do not even get me started on how that wasn't your smartest idea Scorpio."

Scorpio was lounging back in all his godly glory. There was a new confident glow to him now that his powers were back. And it didn't matter that he still wore the jeans. In fact, it made it so much harder to keep my eyes off him. Maybe I should tell him to put his damned uniform on. "You asked me to keep her safe. And I did. Back the hell off."

Libra wasn't happy with our insubordination and scowled at Leo where he sat, Storm snuggled under his arm as usual. "Please talk to them."

For the first time since I met her, I found myself completely devoid of envy and the force of the insight made me draw a sharp breath. Scorpio turned and narrowed his eyes at me. "What's wrong?" Swallowing the thick emotion sitting happily in my chest, I shook my head. He wasn't touching me, but his arm was stretched along the back of the couch, a few touches away from my own shoulders. His body was open and completely at ease with my presence beside him. Languorous and accepting in a way that I thought was now intrinsic for him. No deliberation what so ever. And it was that fact which kept me from shifting against him and mirroring Storm's kittenish sprawl against Leo.

_Oh the randy and utterly fairytale unjustness of it all! Sordid, human idiocy._ The voice in my head sounded suspiciously like him.

But the stark truth was this: it was decisively hard to be envious now with him beside me. There was no denying it. The need to touch him had always been there. This new ache in my chest and the shiny new desire to stroke him was completely new. We were tangled now. There was no denying it.

"What would you like me to say Libra?" Leo drawled apathetically. "We obviously have no influence on her." The lion's eyes, were anything but apathetic. They stayed on me with heinous knowing pleasure.

If I had any godly powers, I would have set him on fire. As it were, I only shifted a fraction away from the heat of Scorpio's body. Why I was guilty all of a sudden, I did not know. Although, I had a feeling it was mostly to protect the god at my side. Somehow I could see what the Lion saw. A weakness.

"Aquarius?"

While I had been focused on Leo, I realized Scorpio had those sapphire eyes narrowed on the purple haired god. Aquarius had been characteristically silent. It was when Scorpio scowled at him and spoke that I realized he'd been watching me. The depth of his scrutiny sent ants crawling under my skin. It wasn't how Leo's frank gaze taunted 'I see you'. Aquarius' scrutiny was dreadful in its foreboding.

Apparently, Scorpio didn't appreciate it either. "What's on your mind?"

The soft spoken god took a moment to choose his words. "If our powers don't work on her, how did the hounds find her?"

Libra's head snapped to Aquarius.

"Fuck if I know." Scorpio shrugged one shoulder, floating an apple into his hand. "But I've chased them off once, I can do it again. There's no need for her to go anywhere."

I bit back a smile, choosing wisely not to comment on how he'd have to stay with me for a very long time for his plan to be effective.

Libra was before me in an instant. "Come with me, Miss Grey."

I felt the Scorpion tense beside me. As much as it was heartening to feel his concern, I also didn't respond well to Libra's order. "Where?"

"There is a way to confirm Aquarius' suspicion. And I mean to test it."

"What suspicion?" Scorpio leaned forward before I could. Ready to move between us, I saw the other gods begin to frown at Scorpio's sudden need to protect me. Well shit. Now it was horrifically obvious something between us had changed. So why the hell did it feel like it shouldn't have?

Hoping to placate the situation until I'd sorted it with Scorpio himself, I rolled to my feet, but I didn't take Libra's hand. "There better not be any needles involved."

"There aren't." Libra offered me a half smile that did not quite placate the nervous fluttering of my heart. "Stay here," Libra commanded the god beside me.

Oh crap.

Scorpio was out of his seat in an instant. "No. Tell me what's on your mind."

"Do you think she needs protection from me?" The Minister snorted turned his attention to the glaring god in his service. "Or is there another reason for your sudden possessiveness?"

"Don't twist this God of Scales. You fucking put me with her!"

I could see it escalating fast. Storm's eyes had become guarded, as had Aquarius and the others. Leo only looked highly amused. Bastard. Reaching out I slid my fingers through Scorpio's gloved ones. "It's because of me Scaly. Because I told him you creep the hell out of me." I grinned wickedly at Libra.

The attention of the room snapped back to me. Scorpio's ire seemed to shrink a fraction as he held my hand a little tighter. But Libra's violet eyes had caught fire before the stiff god took better control. He merely pivoted on his booted heel and marched out. I flickered a cautious glance at Scorpio, before I proceeded to pull him out of the parlor. "I swear man-god, you are so much trouble."

"Tsk! Look who's talking," He muttered and laced his fingers with mine.

It took every ounce of myself not to smile like an idiot. Like Storm. Oh how the mighty had fallen.

Libra lead us down a spiral staircase to a chamber with a glowing fountain. For a moment, I stared at the ethereal blue glow it seemed to give off, swirling and flickering like fireflies. No water I had ever seen could have been this beautiful. And yet, when we were nearly upon it, my feet smoked to a halt and Scorpio jerked to a stop as well, our hands stretched out between us. When he caught the unease etched across my face, he pulled me a step closer.

I caught my breath, my free hand coming to brace on his shoulder. "There is nothing to be afraid of." When I couldn't drag my eyes away from it. He lowered his voice. "Diana?" Lifting my gaze up his, I licked my parched lips. His mouth tilted up at the corner into a tiny smirk. "It's not dangerous."

"Perhaps it is." Libra spoke ominously from the other side. We turned to see him standing at the brink of the fountain, its colors playing like a kaleidoscope over him. "Perhaps she knows why she does not want to be near it."

Of all the imperious, challenge throwing... If I was a lesser woman, I would have been confused. Me? I was angry.

Gritting my teeth, I pulled my hand out of Scorpio's and despite all the hackles the weird water was raising in my gut, I stood before Libra. "I not afraid. Tell me what the hell I'm doing here?"

The pony-tailed god chuckled. "You are formidable Miss Grey. But indulge me." Sweeping one hand over the fountain, I gasped when the surface of the water swirled with imaged. People of all race, color, age. Flittering in an out of their lives like a strange closed circuit camera. "Make a wish."

My heart sank._ Oh god! Anything but that! Bad Friends-reruns! Smashed sports cars! My fifth grade PE teacher!_

I felt Scorpio at my back and for a moment, the image of Storm and Leo flashed through my mind, making my skin flush. _Storm and Leo doing it! Oh god anyone else doing it! My secretary and the pretty girl in accounting!_

"Cease your games God of Scales. You said her wishes are addressed by the Almighty himself." Scorpio's heartfelt reassurance did nothing to quell the images that threatened to pop in my mind!

_Baseball games. Baseball games where the socks win! Chucky cheese and Barney in a tree!_

"They are. But they are still human wishes. They should appear here as they do for everyone in this world." His eyes turned to me like lasers. "Make a wish."

My mind was suddenly a frenzy. No one is supposed to be able to see a wish. No one should be able to prompt anyone to hand over something so private and precious to anyone but the silent presence of the Almighty. I had always made unbidden wishes, without a thought. And as much as I tried to steer my mind towards stupid, unintelligent thought, the more my mind cruelly went to him. _Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Hotrod engines. Oh god anything but __

And the painting splashed itself across my brain like a grotesque fresco: Of Scorpio climbing all over me on the hood of my Maserati, his mouth sealed on mine and his lips whispering how much he loved me.

"Damn you Libra," moaning, I put my face in my hands. "You horrible, conniving, pushy piece of…"

"Nothing."

_What?_ I blinked up at Scorpio's awed voice. Eyes snapping back to the swirl of the divine water, I hastily peered in. He was right! It was the same. Everyone else, but me. A snort of relieved laughter left me but when I looked up to tell Libra off, I saw the look on his face. "Uh oh."

Scorpio frowned at his superior. "What the hell is going on Libra? Because I felt her wish for something."

"As did I." The god of Scales grated out. And those eyes. Shit, those violet eyes were scaring the hell out of me. Like they'd eat me alive. Or strike me down.

I took a step back, my back pressing into the heat of Scorpio, his hands landing reassuringly on my shoulders. Or perhaps he felt the new animosity coming from Libra.

"Unless she is not human."

I bristled at that. "What the hell else, would I be Libra !?" Scorpio's fingers dug into my flesh and I regarded him with confusion, but his face was like marble. Seeing as my man-god was obviously obdurately silent, I turned back to the chilling glare still coming from the god of Scales. "Out with it."

"A demon."

There was complete silence in the eerie dark chamber save for the bubbling of the fountain.

I shook my head to clear it; I'd heard wrong. There was no way in hell he was implying… "Excuse me!? A demon! Me!? Oh this gets even more asinine the longer I spend with you guys." I wrenched out of Scorpio's hold, pacing. Slow simmering anger getting hotter as I glared at Libra.

"The hounds track demon blood! They found you! You must be tainted with the scent of the underworld, there is no other way," Libra explained.

"As if rabid dogs of hell weren't unbelievable enough tonight, now bad parenting has gone and made me a demon. A demon!"

"Diana," Scorpio pleaded gently, trying to catch my arm and stop me before I hyperventilated myself into a stupor.

I wiggled my arm away from him and marched up to Libra, nearly in his face. "You go too far," I growled low under my breath.

A purple line of fire began to burn around the god of Scales. "You presume too much. Because those simple divine powers did not work on you, you think you can take me human?"

"Just because my parents weren't very good at their job doesn't make either of them blood sucking, flesh eating creatures of the underworld! They were people!"

Libra's mouth widened into a vile smirk. "Perhaps they did not know what they were inviting back into this world."

"Enough Libra!" I would have attacked him. I would have. With my nails and teeth and targeting every single nerve ending taught in karate class, but Scorpio wrapped his arms tightly around me and pulled me away, his mouth whispering gently against my ear. "Just breathe. Breathe."

Libra crossed his arms, his face severe, a muscle tight in his jaw. "It is most troubling that one of them has her ability. If she is truly impervious to our attack, we cannot leave her to wreak havoc in this world."

"Because THAT'S what I've been doing these past three decades you judgy piece of shit!"

"Come on Libra, for all her filthy mouth and misplaced bravado, you and I both know she's flesh and bone as she stands here, no fire or brimstone on her veins. At all."

"Not now, no." Libra snorted. "As Storm Walker was reincarnated from her goddess form. This one has been taken from quite another cloth."

I was still in Scorpio's arms, my anger slowly ebbing to helplessness. They were talking about me as if I wasn't there. I swallowed hard. I'd rather be dead than rot in a heavenly prison or lie on a lab table like a sick experiment. Scorpio could feel my panic. Maybe he couldn't hear my screaming heartbeat, or the hiss of breath through my nose, but he knew how I felt. His arms tightening around me, I felt him slide his hand carefully and firmly up my back. And my skin caught fire where his fingers grazed over the lifted hem of my shirt. All that bluster, all that fury fine-honed into a knife's point of finger-clawing desire. Oh god! Not now! The dichotomy of this guy would kill me!

Libra sighed at our silence and out of the corner of my eye, I saw him run a weary hand through his hair. "I see how she colors you, Scorpio. This is foolish. Very foolish."

His hands stilled on my back, mine clenched into tight fists to keep from touching him. Because if I did, there was no way in hell I would be able to stop. I saw a muscle work in his jaw. "It's nothing."

"It better be nothing my friend. For your sake." Libra's gaze softened and I realized, despite all his frigidity, he seemed to care for Scorpio. But when he looked at me, his ire was all pity now. "Make your goodbyes. I will take her myself." And before I could protest he made his way back up the spiral of stairs.

"Wait, what goodbyes?" I looked up at Scorpio's pensive face. "I am not going anywhere with Scaly."

"You might not have a choice this time."

A muscle tightened in my jaw. "I always have a choice."

"Not this time." To my horror, my hard as nails man-god seemed to melt, his hand coming up to cup my chin, thumb smoothing over it, as his eyes turned liquid sapphire. I could almost see his walls fall away. Oh god, no. Not now! Not like this. I had worked too hard on making this bridge for him to cross it because it was the last time!

I stared up at him. "Do you WANT me to go with him?"

Running a frustrated hand through his inky hair, Scorpio turned away.

"Say something!"

"No." He pivoted on me, red fire in his eyes." Of course not. I didn't plan for this! Damn you woman, I was perfectly content in my guilt! You weaseled your way into everything! Fixing EVERYTHING!"

"Are you high!?"

His hands caught my arms with real fury this time. "Yes I am! High on how much I DON'T want to let you go."

Elation made every pore in my body suddenly sing as I tried to move closer. "How is that a bad thing!?"

"Because it is my fault that you don't have a choice!" It was that guilt-ridden, broken cry of his voice that stopped me from smothering him with kisses. "Because I cannot change the way I feel about you Diana. It is my fault they found you. Not your lineage."

Mouth running dry, I stared at him. Was it possible? Did he realize what he was implying? "I am not a demon Scorpio..."

"It doesn't matter." A muscle hardened in his jaw. "We cannot play favorites. No matter who the favorite is. The hounds of hell are after you because of me. Because you chose me."

"I chose you because you were the hottest guy in the room!" I grabbed the lapels of his jacket and shook him, hoping to knock some sense into him. "I STILL think you're the hottest guy! Can't you see how much I…"

His finger pressed to my mouth. "You are right. You're not the demon. Not anymore, but I…I was one of his and did his work prolifically for decades. You're tainted because of me. Your life," his sapphire eyes drank me in, hand slipping over my hair and I knew he was already saying goodbye, "it was good before this."

"It was good!" I scowled and shoved him away, now really angry. "But it's better with you in it."

"Whatever lust you feel for me, will dissipate."

I laughed, my eyes filling with tears. "You asshole." I touched my mouth as the sob threatened there. "Is that what you think?"

"You've had sixty-two other hotties…"

"Thirty one!"

"Damn you woman, I don't care!" He snapped his skin gold now. "I only want to fix this is for you, so you can go back to your life and forget you ever picked _me_!"

It was a thing alive inside me. They were taking him away from me. Playing on his insecurities. All my hard work, for nothing. I could feel it in my bones. Eyes burning, my hands clutched his shirt, nails nearly cutting through the fabric. Maybe he read the panic in my eyes, felt the hitch in my breath. Because his mouth parted on the whisper of my name. I shook my head, suddenly completely bare. Never in all the scenarios that ran through my head was this ever an option. He would give up.

I won't. He couldn't!

I hissed out an angry breath, jerking him closer, my nose pressed into his. Why wouldn't he speak? Something wild was screaming inside me. "No," I pleaded in a shuttered whisper. We'd barely begun. Oh but his eyes were already saying it. I had to stop him. Change his mind. Be braver. Be…more.

"I lo…"

But he never gave me a chance to plead my case.

His mouth slanted against mine as the tear slid down my cheek. Maybe it was mine. Maybe his. But his arms wrapped around me like bands of steel, one hand buried into the hair at my nape, the other gripping the small of my back. We'd kissed before, but this was the one that hurt. It split me open in the middle and filled me with a burning, bloody fire that was intrinsic to Scorpio.

He was kissing me goodbye.

Our lips, teeth and tongue were in their usual dichotomy of sweet keening sadness and furious angry rage. I clutched him harder, any fraction of an inch between us like a bruise. And though he tried to gentle our parting, it only fueled the searing fire inside me. I would not let him decide for us both.

His back hit the wall when I used my strength to remind him who he was dealing with. His mouth opened on a gasp of surprise and I swallowed it as I pressed him there. Pushed myself harder and deeper against him. Branding him with the heat of my need. He drew a sharp breath through his nose and made to extricate himself, but I held him by the jaw and bit down on his bottom lip. Getting rid of me would not be easy.

His growl was dark and sinfully possessive, but it was enough to push him past the self-deprecation and Scorpio came alive. One of his hands slid down to wrap around the curve of my ass, my hips lifting and fitting into the hard lines of his own. There was a clear 'mine' in there somewhere and I smiled widely through my tears, fingers fishing the edges of his shirt out of those gorgeous blue jeans and slid my palms up the expanse of his stomach. And the moan of pleasure was mine. Wrapping my legs around him, I tried to climb into him until they couldn't tell where I stopped and he began.

The hot, hard muscle jumping under my fingers, I kissed up the sharp lines of his jaw and let him hear my own breath short and furious against his ear. "Yours."

There was a sharp jerk to his frame and he slid his hand down my neck to the swell of one breast. "Diana…"

I knew he wanted to take this away from me. So I released his ear long enough to whisper my singular, unafraid truth into his neck. Everything be damned. Him included. "I love all of you Scorpio," I whispered achingly. Because it hurt to be the one to say it first even if I could feel it in every clutch and slide of his touch. "I love you where you're red and where you're gold."

The significance of my words weren't lost on one of the strongest Zodiacs in heaven. He trembled. Then with a strangled groan, both his hands hitched under me and I was lifted.

I tasted them then – Tears. They were his.

I tried to pull him into me, but his lips burned a trail against my neck and pressed right into my sternum. Where my heart would be. "I don't deserve love."

My breath caught, a soft strangled sob left me, but his grip was already loosening. Like water on oil, I slid over the length of his body. Horribly branded with him. Everywhere. When my feet touched the ground, his mouth made one soft, featherlight pass over mine and then with a snap of his fingers – he was gone. I don't know how long I stood there suspended in time, tears drying, breath harsh.

Then I lifted my eyes and made my last wish.

_Please!_

TO BE CONTINUED…


	9. Chapter 9

Dust and Stars

* * *

9

"Diana?"

Ice skated down my back. Head whipping around, I followed the husky voice that called my name. It was the same as the night in my bedroom. Dread washed over me like a tidal wave, bringing with it the urge to cry out and call Scorpio's name. My lips pressed together stubbornly.

I had begged. He'd left any way.

It really was easier doing the leaving. This sucked.

"Diana…" The voice all but sang out my name. Mocking. Teasing.

Fists clenching together, my heart a bloody mess inside my chest, I turned the knife of my heartbreak into the finer edge of my anger. "Coward…" I called back in the same sardonic sing-song voice.

There was a bone-chilling chuckle. Which meant whoever was calling out to me was very real, and very sentient. No hounds of hell here.

"I missed you, my favorite one." The chamber around me shifted as torches flared to life in a twin lines around me. Tall black pillars ascended between them and the floor turned to a clear glass. It was just as well I didn't wear a skirt today.

Then slowly from the other side of the new room, the owner of the voice stepped out of the shadows and winked. "Your king is here."

My breath hitched in my chest, body lurching back in an age-old instinct to flee. His mere presence repelled me. But I dared not. Not with what faced me now. And what a face. Chiseled, rugged and cut like a black diamond he was almost too beautiful to look at. Hair long and silken billowing around him, he stood in a uniform much like Scorpio's but not. It was darker, more ancient and seemed to be made of living shadows.

The devil himself.

I should have been terrified. But Scorpio's inability to take what he wanted had sapped my strength. There was only so much I could fight on my own. Now, I was just so tired. So damned sick of decisions made for me; for my own good! And I knew this creature had done more damage to my God of Scorpio than anything else. It made me angry, and possibly foolish. "You know," I chuckled scathingly, my heart a rocky lump in my chest. Heavy and poking my insides until I was bleeding. "I should have known you'd say something idiotically male. All you divine types have overinflated egos and underdeveloped social skills. That is the worst line to pick up any woman. Much less me."

A dark eyebrow hiked. The chocolates and coffees of his skin nearly shimmered in the firelight. "And what line would you have preferred, my girl?"

Gritting my teeth, I crossed my arms with a lot more bravery that I was feeling. "Here's a hundred million dollars; I'm going go to kill myself."

He grinned and his teeth were all pointed, shark-like. Demonic. "It is gratifying to see you haven't changed." His eyes slid over me like a caress and my skin crawled. It was almost like he'd touched me. I wanted to wash myself.

"From what I've gathered. I have. I no longer belong to you."

Something wicked and furious flashed in those black, black eyes as he sauntered closer to me. Every instinct in me telling me to run. "You will always belong to me. It is why I am the only one to hear each and every one of your prayers."

Agony exploded from my chest in rebellion. There was no way this thing saw my hopes. My innermost desires. My wishes. "You're lying." Because Libra was a hard son of a bitch, but he was no liar. I knew who I prayed to. It couldn't be…him. Could it?

"You wanted the one I used to call my black sword?"

My heart sank, eyes lifting with growing trepidation. "Don't..."

"Why?" He snapped his fingers and to my horror, I saw Scorpio materialize between us, his inky blue eyes confused.

In the instant it took for him to realize what stood behind him, that he exploded in red light. But before he could change completely, the dark king snapped his fingers and froze him. Suspending him in time, caught in a grotesque sculpture of divine red fire. "My but he has become rather apt at yielding all those nauseating gifts of light."

Nails drawing blood in my palm, I lowered my eyes, nearly vibrating with the need to spring on him. "Release him!"

"Or what?" The dark deity snarled then morphed back to the serene smile. Horrifically he began to bend and twist Scorpio like a ragdoll. Like a marionet on invisible strings, Scorpio was forced onto his knees before me, one arm crossed across his chest in deriding allegiance. My very being keened in agony. Painful shuttered breaths leaving me in barely audible heaves. _Please god…_

"I am offering him to you. It is what you wished for just now?"

I wanted to cry. Scorpio's body might not have been in his own control, but those eyes. They blazed with humiliated anger. It was because of me that he was here. My fault for pulling him into this. For choosing to let him protect me that day. My fault. "This…is not what I wanted."

"You were specific."

I stared at the horror of the manipulation before me. I had been specific. So tuned into wanting him. Him alone. Out of all the deities that surrounded me. His blood called to me. I now realized why. We were both colored with the same darkness.

"Return to me."

The furious blinding rage was like a storm and then like a muted explosion, it came apart in ribbons. The chaos, the madness – it all died.

With a shaky breath, I lifted my eyes to the dark king in astonishment. Why would he demand my return? He could have snapped his fingers and had me on my knees instead of the god before me.

And just like that I knew.

He chose the wrong words, because his demand illuminated my position in a single defining reality. Brow darkening, I took in all the silent screams coming from Scorpio's eyes. The blaze of his power red and angry and…completely devoid of the hues of gold. "Is this how you see him?" I lifted a finger to the supplicant god, before turning to the Dark king with a new found clarity. The knowledge that I was being _manipulated_ to return to this creature's side made me realize two very fundamental things.

This wasn't Scorpio and I could never be forced.

A flicker of doubt went through those dark fathomless eyes as I took a step around the apparition meant to weaken me. To bend me to his will. "He also belonged to you, right? But you can no longer reach him." My mouth twisted into a smile and it widened when the Dark King's jaw hardened. He could wear any mask. He could paint any reality. I would know I was right. I stood right before him and met his unbending darkness. "What makes you think you can reach me?"

"Fool," he snarled, leaning into my face until I could smell the death and fear he was made of. "They have forsaken you. They mean to take you to their prison and keep you there! You are a demon! It will be worse than the prison of this human flesh HE put you in! HE took you from me! This is not where you were meant to be."

"But it is where I choose to be," I held my ground. Like steel had been poured into my bones, I held firm. "And you do not get to order me around."

He noticed it first. His pupils blown wide as he took a step away. I realized why he was suddenly colored gold. The light was coming from me. With a swirl of black and gold, the illusion faded to return us to the blue ethereal glow of the chamber with the fountain.

Lifting my hands, I stared in breathless awe as a line of gold emanated from every pore of my being. It was a light that seemed to grow brighter, deeper in hue until I heard the Dark King hiss with fury and disappear to the depths of the shadows he'd emerged from.

The footsteps pounded down the stairs behind me, but the light of the fountain had changed with me. It was a bright white like I'd never seen. And there, inside every fiber of my soul, I knew. The Almighty had found me.

Fists snapping shut, I closed my eyes and bowed my head.

"How very supplicating of you."

I felt the presence of the other Zodiac gods behind me. Instinctively I knew, he wasn't among them. But I stood, bowed before the Almighty. Too afraid to look at him. To really see him as anything other than the steady existence in my soul and the whisper of faith. "I'm sorry."

There was a soft chuckle and the warmth of his never-ending love swept over me, nearly drawing the breath from my lungs.

"Oh child. You have nothing to apologize for. You have only ever prayed to me. As much as he would like to come to you with gifts and threats, his darkness has no hold over you anymore."

"Thank you."

"My Lord," I heard Libra clear his throat. "Perhaps you could now tell us what to do with…"

"Her," I heard his gentle reminder. "And there is nothing to be done for my free star. She is free to choose her place in our world. As always."

There were a few gasps of surprise and the corner of my mouth tilted up, as the familiarity of my being soaked through me. Well shit. Had I really been this lost in my human shell?

"She can't be…"

"Ophiuchus? The lost constellation?"

"I am not lost," I scowled at the purple god over my shoulder. I knew my eyes had slits of black in them as my powers manifested deeper. "I am exactly where I want to be."

"Indeed," the Almighty murmured. "So immersed in your human role. Did you forget?

"I didn't forget. I chose to just be." Turning back to Him, I sighed. "And yeah, I guess I forgot. Damn, but these humans can suck you in."

It was Leo who snorted. "Don't I know it."

Head still down, I took a shaky breath. "No one remembered me. I was…alone. This life…it was meant to be brief, but…being among them. I saw things with such a myriad of emotions, I…wanted something I never thought I'd need. Someone to share the infinite with and I searched for so long. And I made so many mistakes." I thought of the one who'd stolen my heart. "I became selfish. For that I am sorry."

"Never my child. Never be sorry for wanting more for yourself. Not from me. And you helped Scorpio free himself from the self-loathing that was taking him away from me. You healed his heart, taught him to see my creation as something more than a flawed thing. You restored him to me. How can I fault you?"

"I made a selfish wish."

"Love is never selfish Ophiuchus. It is acceptance. It is his job to punish and yet all he wants is to save you."

"He didn't get my memo on forgiven himself."

"So your work is not done. How's your schedule looking?" The gods gasps behind me and I smirked, gratifying in the frank way I could still speak to him. "You always serve me in whatever capacity you choose. It is the reason you will be one of my children. Eternally." I felt a soft caress on the top of my head and closed my eyes. "You remember now. The Dark King said I took you, but he lied. You freed yourself from the shadows. You came to me of your own free will. You are the Goddess of the Free Spirit. You always heal and liberate where you can and you have done so in every capacity you have decided to adhere to. Every lifetime you have picked. Goddess, doctor, soldier, philanthropist. Demon. Human. No one can change who you are. You will bend to no one."

"The dark king. He'll never leave me alone, will he?"

"Perhaps, it is the reason you and Scorpio will always burn the brightest, so his darkness my never touch you."

Maybe we were both colored red. Maybe that was why I'd chosen him.

There was a parting caress over my head. "Planning to stay golden for now?"

I bit back a smile. "For what I'm about to do to him, I think it's best."

"Libra?"

"Yes my Lord?"

"Coming? I believe some of these wayward souls still need a little more time-out."

The rest of the fallen deities, except for Storm and Leo groaned. Libra walked past me to the light of the fountain. Then paused and met my eyes over his shoulder. "You are indeed formidable Goddess of Free Spirit. Despite everything, I am honored."

"Stop kissing ass Libra." I scowled and rolled my eyes before turning to the stairs. "I forgive you."

"Wha…I wasn't apologizing. HEY! Did you hear me?"

Leo sighed. "We're just going to keep getting crowded now aren't we?"

Storm stood on tip toes and dropped a kiss on his cheek. "Come on Lion. We have wishes to grant."

"Oh joy."

I already knew where he would go.

TO BE CONTINUED…


	10. Chapter 10

Dust and Stars

* * *

10

The showroom was empty, save for the fallen god standing there staring at the Maserati. And what really shook me was which one.

The demon red GT sat there on the, now still, pedestal. Behind him. He was gazing down longing at the Q4. The exact color of his eyes.

But he looked so lonely standing there in the dark, the moonlight glistening off the car and the white and gold of his uniform. I swallowed hard when I realized why he was wearing it. To remind himself of where he belonged. Well I had other ideas where he belonged.

"Still think it's frivolous?"

Shoulders tensing, he took a moment to turn and see me standing a few feet behind him. Looking around, he frowned for a moment before meeting my eyes. "How did you get in here?"

It was sad how smart he was and yet so very dumb. I had wanted him to rush to me and love me back, but that was the human in me. The silly hopeful little human who hadn't been alone in the stars for eons. The forgotten one. "What else? I had magic bread."

A deadpan glower passed his face before it was replaced by the melancholy that seemed to color ever speck of him. "You managed to outsmart Libra. Don't worry, he'll be back."

"It's amazing how you have so much faith in him, and so very little in yourself." I showed him my teeth as I stepped out of the darkness to stop a few feet before him. Facing me now, he was guarded, but I could also see the itching fingers. They mirrored mine. He'd had a good taste of me back in the chamber with the fountain. He hadn't thought there would be need to resist another. _Sorry to disappoint._

Scorpio scowled and crossed his arms, patently pissed off. "Go away human. We're done."

"No hotty. We're not done. Should I elaborate?" I lifted my hands towards him with a purr.

Like lightning he stepped away from me, a flash of real fear in those sapphire eyes. He now knew what I did. If he touched me now, there would be no stopping. I smirked. "Welcome to my hell man-god."

He shook his head, back of his knees almost touching the grill of the beautiful moon-lit beast. When I followed that retreat with a step forward, he held up a hand. "Dammit woman, I'm doing this for…"

"No one," I finished for him. "And I'm sick of this game Scorpio. Can we please just drop this poke and retreat?" He opened his mouth with another possible excuse and I reached out, lacing my fingers through his outstretched hand, saw the way his muscles locked, eyes darkening. "Am I that hard to fight for?"

And he must have heard the crushing let-down because I felt his fingers instinctively tighten on mine before he pulled our joined hands against his chest. "You have no idea how hard it is for me to let you go Diana."

"Then don't," I grated out fervently. The need to just claim him for myself stronger than anything I could have felt as human. If he was feeling even a fraction of it, I knew how much it must burn. "If you think either of us will be stronger alone in our lives, you're an idiot."

"Seriously? Calling a god an idiot?" An eyebrow arched, but my hand stayed tucked against him. It was sweet and sad that he couldn't make himself release it.

"Stop playing the martyr then! You didn't bring down the hounds of hell on me. They did not find me because you were with me." I saw the denial build and I wished he had the ability to see how he was only hurting himself for nothing. I had to change my tactic. "The Dark King found me even after you left me." His breath left him in a rush of my name. "The fact that I'm standing here means you do deserve my love Scorpio. If you didn't deserve it, I would have done exactly as you asked. I would have chalked it up to good old fashioned lust and made you number thirty-two."

Something fiercely possessive streaked across his handsome face. Stark, furious and filthy as any human. I held onto that thread and pulled. "Tell me God of Scorpio, how would you handle looking down at me from your heavenly pedestal and seeing me with number thirty three?" There was a flicker of red to his eyes even as he hardened his jaw to fight the flare of emotion heating his skin. His hand tightened on mine, one fist clenched at his side. Such a beautiful dichotomy – all wanting and not. "Would you still think it shouldn't be your skin I kiss everywhere?" I pushed at the odious picture I knew he did not want to see. "Would you look dispassionately from the clouds as he held my breast. The same one you touched not an hour ago?"

"You have a filthy mouth human!" He hissed, a line of fire burning around him.

"It only feels filthy because it's not you." I pressed closer to him, feeling the breasts in question press against the flaring heat of his chest. "Say the words Scorpio and put us out of our misery." He vibrated with it. I could feel the flames consume him, uncaring of the consequences, he was going to turn us both to ashes. He wanted to have me all to himself.

Let me go indeed. Idiot male.

"And if his fingers went…"

"Shut up!" His hand unclenched and curled around my throat. "You're mine!"

And like when he'd taken the ground for beneath my feet, like I fell hundreds of feet while he remembered himself, like nothing could have given me more freedom, I laughed. His fire burst into the golden flames of his power and I let it slide over my skin, coloring me with the absolution of his acquiescence.

Scorpio froze, the blinding fury of the mental image fading into the stark realization of the reality. "Diana?"

Wrapping my arms around his waist, unafraid of the fingers still wrapped around my throat, knowing it was never to strangle me. I smiled widely up into his eyes. "Thank you. The Almighty would never have forgiven me if you hadn't at least been honest with yourself."

The light could have been his, but it could have been mine. He stared down at the way it seemed to rise in curls from his arms and fade into my skin as if it couldn't decide who to claim. He looked so confused, so utterly speech less I slid one hand around his jaw and lifted his chin so he could meet my eyes.

"Silly boy. All you had to do, was believe. I was only ever intended to be yours." My own eyes flickered with tears as he gazed at me with all the love and adoration he hadn't been able to put in words. "And I've been looking for you for so many lifetimes." The memory of my endless loneliness threatened to choke me so I stood on tip toes and pressed my forehead against his, eyes squeezed shut. "Now forgive yourself so I can put you down on the hood and have my way with you."

The bark of laughter was wet with his own emotions. Or maybe a tear or two thrown in despite himself. His arms coiled around me, hands splaying over every inch they could hold. "This car is not ours." But his hands were already sliding into my shirt and over my skin.

I keened inwardly at the possessive pronoun. "You do kind of owe us a new one."

"I'm not exactly light," he chuckled, eyes brilliant and flashing blue as I pushed him back to sprawl against the Maserati's hood.

My own power flared as I pulled his jacket off, tossing it to our feet. "I WILL have you right here Scorpio. I am frivolous enough to use my divine power and prevent every single dent from ever forming. All the better it should be ours."

His mouth sealed itself against my throat as he worked my blouse up from my torso. "There are security cameras."

"Please," I purred, my head falling to the side and giving him better access as electricity began to skate over every inch he touched. "As if you didn't already snap those sexy fingers to make yourself invisible."

The husky chuckle reverberated through my chest as the blouse fell open and his mouth pressed against the hard bone of my sternum, right where my heart beat in a happy frantic rhythm. "Sexy fingers?"

"I have been trying to get you out of these ridiculously theatrical clothes for weeks now Scorpio, nothing is going to change my mind." I tossed his shirt over my shoulder and drank in the sharp, perfectly hot and male lines of him. "God you're hot."

His mouth twisted into an insufferable, gloating grin. Rolling my eyes, I opened one palm against the middle of his chest, over his own pounding heart and shoved him up and against the windshield.

Pants discarded, I climbed up and straddled him exactly as I had in my many dreams. "Gloves, teeth." I licked my lips at the memory.

Sapphire eyes dark with sinuous promise, he lifted one hand and bit down on the edge of those gorgeous leather gloves. My legs clamped down hard around his hips as he fulfilled all my lovely fetishes. The delicious friction nearly sent Scorpio's head back through the glass and had me nearly exploding into a world of color and music. But Damn! This picture was worth every heartache, the eons of waiting, the unrequited, everything.

The beautiful god lay sprawled against the magnificent pearlescent blue of my favorite car, shirtless, rumpled and sinfully alluring. Every lithe muscular inch of him had been surrendered to me. All barriers down. The Scorpion was mine.

"You realize there's a windshield wiper digging into my back woman."

"Poor you; suck it up."

"Yes," he growled, a hungry selfish sound that was enough to make a happy secure little hum settle deep in my belly. But it did nothing to warn me that Scorpions were intrinsically lethal. The hum turned scream as he swung forward, flicked the left cup of my bra down and sucked the nipple deep into his mouth.

Fingers plunging into the scarlet tinged raven hair, I slowly rocked my hips against the hard length of him. Making him groan and coaxing him to go faster. "Dammit Diana, stop pushing!" He hissed and raised those fiery red eyes in warning. Had I been another woman, I would have listened.

"I am Ophiuchus." I held his gaze unflinchingly, perhaps a tad imperiously. "I have waited a millennia to find my mate. Now shut up and fuck me already."

Let it not be said the God of Scorpio is slow on the uptake.

It was a flash of light, a grunt and a growl before I was smacked back against the slick beautiful car that had claimed my soul for just such a wish: Scorpio climbed all over me on the hood of my Maserati; his mouth sealing on mine and his lips whispering how much he loved me.

And there was no doubt in my mind who granted our wishes as we came together in an explosion of dust and stars.

THE END


End file.
